Phillips, Dunn earn medals, pacing team to 3rd place finish
Delainey Phillips saved her best golf for the grand finale of her high school career Tuesday, carding a personal best round of 75 to earn a fourth place medal at the Class C state golf meet near North Platte. Freshman Olivia Dunn joined her teammate on the medal stand with a 9th place medal, with the duo leading the Lady Huskies to a third place team finish.
A strong finale to a solid season of golf was icing on the cake for the Aurora senior, who came into the two-day meet at Lake Maloney Golf Club with a goal of finishing in the top five. Mission accomplished!
“I’m really glad to finish fourth, since my goal was to finish in the top five,” Phillips said after the round. “I just wanted to do better than yesterday and I knew that I could only improve. So yeah, I just wanted to enjoy it and shake off the nerves, and I was able to do that.”
Having qualified for state a year ago as a junior in Scottsbluff, Phillips knew what to expect at the two-day state tournament, where there are more eyes watching every shot and the added pressure of each player wanting to play their best golf. Phillips did that in spades on Tuesday, firing at the pins all day long and getting help from her short game to go lower than she ever had before.
“I would say my chipping and putting definitely improved since yesterday, and overall today just went really well,” she said.
That is perhaps an understatement, as Phillips carded four birdies during her final round, including three in a stretch of five holes. In fact, she was two under par over a stretch of eight holes, from No. 7 to 14, where she played with a sense of poise under pressure. She finished with a 37 on the front nine, then backed that up with a 38 on the back to post the fifth lowest 18-hole round of the tournament.
Monday did not start as smoothly, as Phillips was six over par after four holes before settling in to finish the day with a 39 on the back side. Her front-nine 43 gave her an 82, which left her in fourth place.
“I was pretty nervous,” Phillips said of her Day 1 score. “Play was pretty slow to begin with, which kind of messed me up a little bit. But mostly, I would say it was probably nerves.”
The weather was dramatically different over the two-day span. It was hot and extremely windy on Monday, though Tuesday started with foggy conditions and much cooler temperatures. The fog eventually lifted and the temperature got up into the 60s, making it a pleasant day to play golf as the day wore on.
Coach Rick Bell said he was pleased with the team’s performance, and especially with the two medalists.
“You know, I’m just really, really proud of these girls,” Bell said. “They’re just great kids and they’re pretty good golfers, so we had a good time. We had a good senior leader, but we’re very young. We talked going into today that the weather wasn’t going to be great to start with, but you know they just kind of locked in and didn’t worry about the weather, so I was really proud of them.”
As for his freshman medalist, Bell said he was pleased but not surprised by Dunn’s performance, noting that she has played consistently well all season long. Dunn competed on the Nebraska Junior Golf circuit before strapping her clubs to a Husky golf bag this season, saying she enjoyed the experience and has already set a goal to qualify for state again next year.
“Coming into it, I thought it was going to be a lot of pressure, but I’d say it was really close to what the rest of the season was like,” Dunn said. “It’s just a bigger atmosphere.”
Dunn played consistent golf over the two-day event, carding 9-hole rounds of 42 and 43 the first day, followed by rounds of 41 and 44 on Tuesday. She carded two birdies, one each day, and for the most part avoided big scores.
“I felt like I was doing well getting on the green with my chipping and being able to putt almost everything helped a lot,” she said. “It helped me gain my confidence because I was able to just get off the greens.”
As for her 9th place medal, Dunn said she is motivated to improve on her finish next year and beyond.
“I think I can definitely make it back next year and just keep improving my short game,” she said. “If I can do that, hopefully I can just keep lowering the scores.”
Young team
The Aurora team included two sophomores and another freshman, giving coach Bell confidence that the Lady Huskies have a strong foundation on which to build.
Sophomore Ellie Beck posted a 105 on opening day, then followed that up with a personal best round of 93 Tuesday, which included a birdie on the par-4 5th hole, to end up in 58th position with a 198. Freshman Elin Coufal had a similar experience, opening with a 106, followed by a personal best 99 to finish tied for 71st at 205. Sophomore Lexi SaBell also improved from one day to the next, opening with a 116 and closing with a 108.
Minden sophomore Macy Jorgensen won medalist honors with a 1-under par two-day score of 143. Daleni Knust of West Holt was second at 146, leading her team to a first-place finish at 674, 35 strokes ahead of runner-up Scotus Central Catholic at 709. Aurora finished third with a four-person team score of 730.
“We’ll set some goals for this spring and talk about playing a little bit more in the summer for those younger girls,” Bell concluded. “But you know, Delainey started golfing as a sophomore, and what a career she’s had. She has improved so much and is just a level-headed golfer, a great kid and a great student, so I just really enjoyed her.”
Class C State Golf
Team scores: West Holt, 674; Scotus Central Catholic, 709; Aurora, 730; Grand Island Central Catholic, 742; Sutton, 744; Lincoln Christian, 750; Battle Creek, 751; Adams Central, 765; Sidney, 776; Boone Central, 782; Cozad, 789; O’Neill, 797; Bergan Catholic, 798; Valentine, 818; Chadron, 828.
Individual medalists: 1. Macy Jorgensen, Minden, 143; 2. Daleni Knust, West Holt, 146; 3. Alyvia Harless, Bridgeport, 152; 4. Delainey Phillips, Aurora, 157; 5. Abigail Klooz, Exeter-Milligan-Friend, 162; 6. Molly Kenna, GICC, 166; 7. Tierney Miller, Valentine, 166; 8. Elizabeth Stark, Lincoln Christian, 168; 9. Olivia Dunn, Aurora, 170; T10. Libby Langan, Scotus, 171; T10. Ella Atchison, Cozad, 171; T12. Ashlynn Naber, Boone Central, 172; T12. Ava Sokol, Scotus, 172; T14. Kaylin Sughroe, Holdrege, 174; Brinley Kerkman, West Holt, 174; T14. Lily McClymont, Holdrege, 174.
Aurora scores: Delainey Phillips, 4, 82-75 — 157; Olivia Dunn, 9, 85-85 — 170; Ellie Beck, 58, 105-93 — 198; Elin Coufal, T71, 106-99 — 205; Lexi SaBell, T86, 116-108 — 224.