BEAR RIVER HIGH - By Tate Atkin, Headliner Sports Editor, May 5, 2022
For those not familiar with Region 11 girls’ high school golf, each team hosts a tournament on their home course where each of the six teams compete. After the six teams host their own tournament, they all meet one final time for the region championship tournament, played at a neutral site.
After Bear River hosted their lone tournament of the season on March 21, where the Lady Bears took fourth place, they spent the rest of the regular season in Cache Valley visiting their golf courses before ending the season in Preston, Idaho for the championship.
The Bears followed their fourth place finish at home with two more consecutive fourth place finishes on the road as they first traveled to the Logan Country Club for the tournament hosted by Ridgeline High School. Next on the schedule was Green Canyon with a tournament at Birch Creek Golf Course in Smithfield.
After three straight fourth place finishes, the Bears were disappointed as they then strung together three straight sixth place finishes. The first was the Logan High tournament, followed by the Mountain Crest tournament, both held at the Logan River Golf Course in Logan. The final regular season tournament was hosted by Sky View where the team returned to Birch Creek Golf Course.
Bear River and the rest of Region 11 met once again at the region championship tournament held in Preston, Idaho on May 2, at the Preston Golf and Country Club. The girls again ended up in sixth place, missing fifth place by just three strokes. With the totals from all the tournaments, the lady bears team finished the season fifth place overall in region.
The highlight of the region championship was freshman standout Tylee Bennett, who shot an 84 at the tournament. With her amazing performance and great scores throughout the season, she finished ranked second place individually in Region 11. Coach Jim Thomas when talking about Bennett’s ranking said, “That’s an awesome accomplishment for a freshman!”
Thomas was impressed with the team's overall performance this season. Although they are a very young team, they were led by their one returning senior, Gracie Nelson. Coach Thomas said about Nelson, “Gracie has played varsity all year and has been such a great leader and teammate.”
Junior Maci Roberts also had a great season playing varsity, where she continued to improve each week and shot her best score of the year at the region championship with a score of 106.
A young team, with a lack of experience, seemed to be what kept the girls’ golf team at Bear River from climbing higher in the rankings this season. Although it was a disadvantage this year, the team will return a lot of experienced players next season and that should help them going forward. Besides Bennett, fellow freshman Destiny Thompson showed flashes on the season as well as sophomores Jessa Theurer, Abbi Nessen, Addy Doutre, Angie Delgado and Trinity Pugsley.
Bear River girls’ golf is in good hands for the next few years. Thomas had this to say about the lady bears’ future, “We are such a young team and I am excited to see what we can do in the next few years. They will have a great next few years and I am way excited to have them on our team!”
While it is exciting to look ahead to future years with this young squad, the focus is finishing this year strong. The girls will travel to St. George May 11-12, where they will compete in the state tournament being held at the Sunbrook Golf Club.