KOOPMAN SHOOTS BACK-TO-BACK 39, WINS IAAM GOLF TITLE

  

By Mike Buchanan
mbuchanan@digitalsports.com
 

(See below for video interviews ... some technical difficulty with videos, sound is off a bit)

On a perfect spring day weather-wise, the IAAM 2008 Golf Championships were held at Longview Golf Course, in Timonium. McDonogh’s Morgan Koopman shot a 39 for the second straight day and walked away with the A Conference individual title, by five strokes.  Institute of Notre Dame’s Caitlin Melvin won the B title. On the team side, Roland Park Country and IND were victorious in the A and B, respectively.
 

Only three strokes separated the top four players as they began the second day of play. On Monday, Koopman shot a 39, but had only a one-stroke lead over St. Paul’s Jamie Bare. Mercy’s Veronica Gross was another stroke off at 41, and NDP’s Maria Bellantoni completed the opening group with a 42.

Nine more golfers were only eight strokes or less off the pace. But Day Two belonged to Koopman, and with it her second straight A title. The McDonogh junior matched her first-day 39 to finish at 78, the lone player to shoot under 80.

Bare carded in at 43, to finish in second place with an 83.  Gross also shot a 43, and ended at 84 overall.  Hannah Deegan of Roland Park Country shot 43 and 41, good for an 84 to tie with Gross for third.  Deegan’s 41 was the second best score of the afternoon, behind Koopman’s 39.

"You definitely gotta  stay out of the rough, you can get in a little trouble there," said Koopman, on the way the course played. "If you hit the fairways, you should be good to go. It was a tight group at the start, but luckliy I was able to open up a bit of room midway through the round."

She is the repeat A Conference champ.  Koopman, showing the class and sportsmanship that golfers as a group tend to exhibit at a higher level, sounded apologetic over last year’s win. RPCS’s Haley Milbourne (who had won the title  the previous two years, was in the lead and on her way to a third straight championship. But Milbourne turned herself in after a ball infraction, unbeknownst to others, and was disqualified. Koopman thus moved up from second to first and was named champion.

Kooman was pleased to earn the title this year, rather than winning it on a technicality. "Milbourne was five strokes ahead of me last year.  I felt a little guilty getting the title.   I felt like she deserved it more than  I did.  It felt a lot better  earning it this time."

1.       39, 39 – 78   Morgan Koopman (McDonogh)

2.       40, 43 – 83   Jamie Bare (St. Paul’s SG)

3.       41, 43 – 84   Veronica Gross (Mercy)

3.       43, 41 – 84   Hannah Deegan (Roland Park)

5.       42, 44 – 86   Bridget Ercole (Bryn Mawr)

6.       46, 42 – 88   Jessica Jennings (Roland Park Country)

7.       47, 42 – 89   Christine Lee (Roland Park Country)

8.       44, 47 – 91   Hali Matricciani (McDonogh)

8.       42, 49 – 91   Maria Ballantoni (Notre Dame Prep)

10.     48, 46 – 94   Steph Rotolo (Bryn Mawr)

(The top six golfers above make up the A Conference All-Stars.)
 

Six teams competed for the A Conference team title, with each allowed a maximum of four golfers.  It was Gross Scoring (two scores per hole, the lowest two scores counting toward the team total).  Roland Park Country, after going undefeated in the regular season, also captured the team crown at Longview with a score of 155. The Reds had three top-ten finishers, while McDonogh and Bryn Mawr had two apiece.  McDonogh finished second, seven strokes back at 162.  Mercy got the team bronze with a 169, one stroke ahead of Bryn Mawr.  Roland Park also won the team title last year.

RPCS Coach Tara Kramer, on her team's repeat title, said "We went 5-0 in the season, and we had two great 9-hole performances in the championships.  We had a fourth and sixth place finish. I'm proud of those golfers and proud of our whole team."

Team results in the A Conference:

1.       155   Roland Park Country
2.       162   McDonogh
3.       169   Mercy
4.       170   Bryn Mawr
5.       171   Notre Dame Prep
6.       180   St. Paul’s SG

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In the B Conference, Caitlin Melvin from Institute of Notre Dame won the individual title with a score of 96.  Melvin was in the fifth group to go out, competing with three A Conference golfers based on her Day One total of 50. She had a one-stroke lead over SPSG’s Jillian Unitas and two strokes over IND teammate Kim Webster.

Melvin improved her score by four strokes, shooting a 46 to finish at 96.  Maggie Andrews from Mount de Sales also gained four strokes and carded a 102 for second place.  Webster gave IND two of the top three B finishers by going 52-52 for a 104.

When asked baout her improved score on Tuesday, Melvin said, "I was a little nervous at the start, but once we got going there was a more relaxed feel.  My putting was a little rough, but I was hitting straighter on the greens, cutting out a few of the extra shots.  The coaching has helped my swing this season.  I'm proud of our whole team, we're a very close group."

As far as personal improvement, the round of the day had to go to Emily Schenning.  The St. Timothy’s freshman shot an opening-round 65 on Monday.  Readily admitting to being a bit nervous that day, Schenning won the battle of the nerves, and then some. She shot a round-two score of 49 – a 16-stroke improvement!  In fact, she was third from last out of 44 golfers on Monday, and her 49 pushed her into a tie for seventh among the B’s top ten finishers.

 

The top 10 B Conference finishers:

1.       50, 46 –  96    Caitlin Melvin (IND)

2.       53, 49 – 102   Maggie Andrew (Mount de Sales)

3.       52, 52 – 104   Kim Webster (IND)

4.       55, 50 – 105   Jennifer Sinnott (Seton Keough)

5.       61, 49 – 110   Ericka Micciche (Seton Keough)

6.       56, 56 – 112   Rebecca Murray (Mount de Sales)

7.       65, 49 – 114   Emily Schenning (St. Timothy’s)

7.       56, 58 – 114   Morgan Layne (Seton Keough)

9.       61, 54 – 115   Tess Meyer (Garrison Forest)

10.     57, 60 – 117   Kendyl Bressant (Garrison Forest)