Orangeburg – The Hilton Head Prep girls golf team won its fifth consecutive SCISA state championship recently at Orangeburg Country Club. And, as has been the case for the two previous titles, the Dolphins had senior Bridget Wilkie leading the way.
Wilkie shot a 7 under par 137 in the two rounds on the par 72 course to win the individual championship for the third consecutive year. Both Wilkie and her team won their championships in easy fashion.
With a first-round 67 and a 70 in the second round, Wilkie won the individual title by 16 strokes over Lina Polteraits of Trinity Collegiate. HHP won the team title with a 695, 26 strokes better than Porter-Gaud. Hilton Head Prep pretty much wrapped up the title in the first round, shooting a 340 to lead Porter-Gaud by 21 strokes.
“The team peaked at the right time,” said Dolphins head coach Steven Moe, who has led HHP to a state championship in each of his five years. “All of our players had their personal best 18-hole round of the season on Day 1. We probably played 15-20 shots better than average that day.
“The players really focused on course management discussions and practices that we had been working on for the past couple of weeks. We really had a productive practice round, and the girls really stayed true to their sight lines and where to be aggressive and/or conservative, depending on the situation. I was so proud of them.”
Wilkie, who came to HHP in her freshman year, is committed collegiately to play at Notre Dame. She had a scoring average of 33 over nine holes during region matches and had a 69.5 scoring average over the season in several tournaments.
Moe said Wilkie is as good of a teammate as she is a golfer.
“Bridget is such a wonderful teammate because she is always looking out for her peers,” he said. “She is constantly taking videos of her teammates’ swings and is eager to offer advice. She sets up text message chains to make sure that the girls are all wearing the same outfits for the matches and tournaments. Bridget goes out of the way to make the underclassmen feel welcomed and included on the team.
“The girls on our team view Bridget as a rock star and listen to every word she has to say. Bridget offers advice to teammates and coaches about drills and approaches that have been successful for her game. She is a leader because her teammates love her and do not want to let her down when we compete in numerous matches and tournaments.”
Freshman Abigail Kell had the next best score for HHP with a 180. Eighth-grader Alexa Palazzo had a score of 187, junior Bella Johnson was close behind at 191, and eighth-grader Ella Jones shot a 258
“The team was really young and inexperienced at the beginning of the year," Moe said. “We only had one other play returning from the 2022 state championship team. Most of the team was made up of eighth- and ninth-graders, and one of our players (sophomore Stephanie Zhu) had never really played golf.”
Rounding out the top individual scorers were Laurence Manning Academy’s Summer Carey at 154, Spartanburg Day’s Arley Jennings at 165, Porter-Gaud’s Lila Wilbourne at 170, Trinity Collegiates’ Kinsley Stanley at 170, Porter-Gaud’s Catherine Hagood at 171, Mead Hall’s Zoey Meldrum at 172, Spartanburg Day’s Poppy Dawson at 174 and Bella Grudzinski of Wilson Hall and Kathryn White of Pinewood Prep both at 178.
In the team competition, Trinity Collegiate was third at 734, LMA fourth at 818 and Wilson Hall fifth at 820.
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