The Bishop Garrigan girls golf team wrapped their first state appearance since 2022 by exceeding even their own expectations, finishing in 4th place by tallying a score of 726 of two days of the class 1A competition from the Cedar Pointe Golf Course in Boone.
Sophomore Gabby Buscher earned a state medal with a fifth place finish, after taking 13th as a freshman one year ago. Buscher shot a 79 on day one and 82 on the second day, good for a total of 161 over the course of the state meet.
Head Coach Stephanie Ehlers says Buscher played to her strengths at the state meet.
Freshman Lucy Eisenbarth placed 33rd with a two-day score of 183, senior Addison Kuper was 38th with 185, while senior Ava Snider rounded out Bishop Garrigan’s scoring four with 197. Junior Graclyn Eastman tallied 215 strokes over the two days for 69th place, while senior Hailee Reutzel placed 71st with 221.
Ehlers says Eastman’s score proved to be key, as it broke a 4th place tie with Westwood, as the score of each team’s fifth place golfer determined the tiebreak.
Bishop Garrigan sat in third place in the standings after day one with 357 before finishing with 369 on the second day. Ehlers felt the Golden Bears came in relaxed on day one, but started to feel more nerves on the second day.
After finishing second at the regional final the prior week, Bishop Garrigan did not enter the meet as one of the favorites amongst the ten team field. Ehlers felt the performance exceeded all expectations, including their own.
One of the keys for Bishop Garrigan to get off to such a strong start was with the 89 by Kuper on the first day of competition, equaling her 18 hole low for the season. According to Ehlers, after promising signs in practice, Kuper put it all together in a meet.
After the state tournament wrapped up, Ehlers said the returning golfers were already getting excited for next season.
Easton Valley won the class 1A title with 701, while the rest of the standings were Highland (703), South Winneshiek (718), Bishop Garrigan (726), Westwood (726), South O’Brien (734), Newman Catholic (742), BCLUW (747), Earlham (760), and Mount Ayr (766).
