The last time Georgetown won a tournament team title in the spring of 2019, Kaitlyn Lees was a freshman at Dartmouth.
A three-time Inter-Ac League champion at Agnes Irwin and a three-time winner of the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship during a standout junior career, Lees finished in third place in the Ivy League Championship as a freshman that spring at The Ridge at Back Brook.
The following spring, the coronavirus threw a monkey wrench into the plans of Lees and a whole lot of other athletes. The college golf season came to an abrupt end and Dartmouth actually briefly shut down its program, although it has since been restored.
Amid the uncertainty, Lees transferred to Georgetown. She is in her fifth year this spring and still a capable player through it all.
Earlier this week, Lees finished in a tie for eighth place with Georgetown teammate Gabriella Gilrowski, a junior from Westfield, Ind., in the individual standings to help the Hoyas claim their first team title since that spring of 2019 as they rolled to a 10-shot victory over tournament host Howard in the Lady Bison Invitational, which wrapped up at Baltimore Country Club’s East Course at Five Farms, an A.W. Tillinghast gem, Tuesday in Baltimore.
Georgetown, playing out of the Big East Conference, opened Monday’s double round with an 11-over-par 299 and added a 17-over 305 in the afternoon over the challenging 6,127-yard, par-72 East Course layout to grab a five-shot lead over Howard heading into Tuesday’s final round.
The Hoyas then closed with the best team round of the tournament, a 3-over 291, that gave them a 31-over 895 total.
The best score of the day in Tuesday’s final round for Georgetown was the 1-under 71 turned in by senior Esther Park, a Wilmington, Del. native and product of A.I. DuPont. Park’s strong final round enabled her to finish in a tie for fifth place in the individual standings with a 9-over 225 total. Park had opened with a 3-over 75 before struggling a little in Monday afternoon’s second round with a 79.
It’s been a little more than five years since a 16-year-old Park joined up with fellow Delaware teens Phoebe Brinker, the Duke junior who is defending her Atlantic Coast Conference individual title this week, and Jennifer Cleary, a junior at Virginia who helped the Cavaliers reach the NCAA Championship a year ago, as the First State earned a stunning runnerup finish in the final installment of the USGA’s Women’s State Team Championship at The Club at Las Campanas’ Sunrise Course in Santa Fe, N.M.
It was the end for the USGA’s Women’s State Team Championship, but just the beginning for the talented trio of players from Wilmington.
Georgetown’s best player at the East Course at Five Farms was Megan Gormley, a freshman from Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. who sandwiched an even-par 72 in Monday afternoon’s second round with a pair of 2-over 74s to get a share of second place with Merrimack’s Prakruthi Sastry, a sophomore from India, each landing on 4-over 220, four shots behind individual champion Kendall Jackson, a Howard sophomore from Pearland, Texas.
Howard, one of four Northeast Conference teams among the top six teams in the team standings in the Lady Bison, opened with a 302 and added a 307 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with its best round of the tournament, an 8-over 296, to earn runnerup honors with a 41-over 905 total.
Jackson opened with the best individual round of the tournament, a 2-under 70 and had a share of the lead with Merrimack’s Sastry going into the final round after carding a 3-over 75 in Monday afternoon’s second round.
But Jackson pulled away from the field with a solid 1-under 71 in the final round for an even-par 216 total that was four shots clear of Gormley and Sastry.
It was another 16 shots back to Delaware State, another Northeast Conference representative, in third place as the Hornets closed with a 10-over 298 for a 57-over 921 total. Delaware State had struggled to a 316 in the opening round before bouncing back with a 307 in Monday afternoon’s second round.
Fairleigh Dickinson finished a shot behind its Northeast Conference rival Delaware State in fourth place with a 58-over 922 total as the Knights bounced back from an opening-round 319 with a 302 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 13-over 301.
Lehigh, out of the Patriot League, finished 13 shots behind Fairleigh Dickinson in fifth place with a 71-over 935 total. After opening with a 307, the Mountain Hawks struggled to a 320 in Monday afternoon’s second round before bouncing back with a 308 in the final round.
Merrimack, another Northeast Conference representative, finished a shot behind Lehigh in sixth place in the nine-team field with a 72-over 936 total as the Warriors opened with their best round of the tournament, a 20-over 308, before adding a 311 in Monday afternoon’s second round and closing with a 317.
Lees and Gilrowski gave Georgetown four finishers inside the top eight as they both landed on 12-over 228 to share eighth place.
Lees, who plays out of Merion Golf Club, bounced back from an opening-round 79 with a 3-over 75 in Monday afternoon’s second round before finishing up with a solid 2-over 74. Gilrowski opened with a 4-over 76 and added a 79 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with her best round of the tournament, a 1-over 73.
Rounding out the Georgetown lineup was Lauren May, a senior from Austin, Texas who struggled in Monday afternoon’s second round with an 84, but contributed counting scores of 2-over 74 in the opening round and 1-over 73 in Tuesday’s final round.
Merrimack’s Sastry matched par in Monday afternoon’s second round after opening with a 2-over 74 to get a share of the lead with Jackson going into Tuesday’s final round. Sastry closed with a 3-over 75 to share runnerup honors with Georgetown’s Gormley at 4-over 220.
Fairleigh Dickinson’s Anete Adul, a junior from Estonia, finished alone in fourth place, three shots behind Gormley and Sastry with a 7-over 223 total. After opening with a 77, Adul added a 2-over 74 in Monday afternoon’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 72.
Joining Georgetown’s Park in the duo tied for fifth place at 9-over was Delaware State’s Ana Ferreyra Heit, a graduate student from Argentina who added a 78 in Monday afternoon’s second round to her opening round of 4-over 76 before finishing strong with a 1-under 71.
Lehigh’s Madison Pineda, a sophomore from San Carlos, Calif., finished alone in seventh place, two shots behind Park and Ferreyra Heit with an 11-over 227 total. After opening with a 77, Pineda carded back-to-back 3-over 75s in the final two rounds.
A pair of Howard players, Kyra Cox, a graduate student from South Salem, N.Y., and Marley Franklin, a freshman from Los Angeles, rounded out the top 10 in the individual standings, each landing on 13-over 229, a shot behind Georgetown’s Lees and Gilrowski.
Cox bounced back from an opening-round 81 with a 4-over 76 in Monday afternoon’s second round before matching par with a 72 in the final round. Franklin registered a pair of 4-over 76s in Monday’s double round before closing with a 77.
There’s a familiar name in the Lehigh lineup in freshman Evelyn Wong, the runnerup to Lower Merion’s Sydney Yermish in the PIAA Class AAA Championship in 2021 as a senior at Emmaus. Wong finished among the group tied for 27th place with a 238 total as she struggled in Monday afternoon’s second round with an 84 after opening with a 79 before putting together a solid 3-over 75 in the final round.
Mount St. Mary’s freshman Makensy Knaub, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Dallastown during a standout scholastic career, finished in a tie for 34th place for the Mountaineers with a 241 total. Knaub added an 82 in Monday afternoon’s second round after opening with an 81 before finishing up with her best round of the tournament, a 6-over 78.
The Mount, a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference entry, finished in seventh place in the team standings with a 952 total.
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