Pinckneyville girls golf team places third at state tournament
DECATUR - The trophy case at Pinckneyville High School features IHSA state finals hardware from a long list of different sports, but now gets to add a new one after the school's girls golf team made history Saturday.
Led by seniors Megan Breslin, Sarah Breslin and Graci McDaniel along with junior Kally Mayo, the Lady Panthers brought back the third-place trophy from the IHSA Class 1A State Girls Golf Tournament held at Red Tail Run Golf Course over a chilly weekend in Decatur.
Megan Breslin led the charge with an outstanding individual effort that won her fifth place. She followed a round of 77 with a 74 for the only two-day total of 151 among the entire field.
Listening to her coach, and in this case her father, Dan Breslin, had an impact on her rounds, Megan said.
"My dad actually made me change my putting to cross hand the night before state started," Megan said. "So actually my putting improved a bunch and I just focused on parring every hole and not worrying what the other girls in my group were shooting."
In Friday's first round, Megan had three birdies to help offset a few rough holes. On Saturday, she had two bogeys but otherwise parred every other hole, including her final seven on the front and final eight on the back.
"The first day, the back was pretty tough due to the weather conditions," she said. "But luckily the weather improved immensely on the second day."
After the first day, Pinckneyville was in third behind Bloomington Central Catholic and Massac County, just four strokes from the leaders. BCC had a strong second day and won at 668, followed by Massac County (675) and Pinckneyville holding onto third at 687.
Sarah Breslin just missed out on an individual medal by tying for 12th at 158 with rounds of 79 both days. McDaniel had an 85 on Friday and shot 93 on Saturday for a 178, while Mayo turned in scores of 103 and 97.
It was all enough to beat out Champaign's St. Thomas More by five strokes to claim the third team trophy.
"I'm so grateful the team was able to make school history," Megan Breslin said.
Also playing for Pinckneyville were Breyona Schandl (127-115) and Zoey Brammeier (131-120).
Pinckneyville and Massac County both came from the Centralia Sectional, where the Lady Panthers won the team title to also accomplish a first in school history.
At the state meet, Massac placed second with Millie Lawson being its top finisher at 159, which tied for 16th individually. The Lady Patriots' other scores came from Mady Blair (167), Madie Coakley (171) and Lily Conkle (178).
The top four individuals included a pair of freshmen, including the state champion Dani Grace Schrock of Pontiac.
Schrock was 2-under on Saturday and finished at 146 to ege Macomb's Emma Thorman by one stroke. Eureka freshman Allison Pacocha tied for third at 148 with Pontiac senior Ali Schrock.
Hamilton County's Kylee Vaughan tied for 12th (158) and Murphysboro's Hannah Gahagan tied for 23rd (164).
Pinckneyville now has IHSA state trophies from bass fishing, baseball, boys basketball, cheerleading, softball and girls golf.