Wellington girls golf team place third at the Class 4A state tournament in Salina
The Class 4A third-place state golf champions – The Wellington Crusaders!
By Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington girls’ golf team came home with its first state tournament trophy. The Crusaders placed third at the two-day Class 4A State Tournament in Salina.
Wellington finished with 705 points. Topeka Hayden ran away with the tournament with a 661, while Wamego finished second with a 698. Again, Wellington and Winfield were in a dog fight. Wellington won the AV-CTL DIV league tournament. Winfield won the regional. This time, Wellington took the third-place trophy, with Winfield finishing fourth with a 711. Pratt was fifth at 726, and Eudora sixth at 738. There were 12 teams in the tournament, with six advancing to the second day (see full results here).
Taryn Viramontes wins third place at state.
Individually, sophomore Taryn Viramontes finished third in the tournament of 54 girls in the combined two-day event. She shot a 153 — 79 on day one and 74 on day two.
Claire Ginter placed 21st with a 175 — 87 on day one and 88 on day two.
Presley Cornejo got 26th — 178 – 92 on day one and 86 on day two.
Other Wellington scores were:
•Evelyn Trafecanty – 41st, 202 total, 101 and 101 day one and day two.
•Aubrey Hunt – 43rd, 204 – 98, 106.
•Kenna Maxwell – 126th, 242 – 126- 116.
This marks Wellington’s first state trophy in the sport. They qualified in 2022, placing fourth, just one stroke from getting a trophy. Wellington shot a 766 last year.
Taryn Viramontes in the Wellington Regional last week.
The following is an interview with Wellington head coach James Ginter about the Crusaders state tournament performance:
Sumner Newscow — Third place. You have to be happy about that. What are your overall thoughts?
Ginter: Coach (Vanessa) Sawyer and I are extremely pleased with our third-place finish at the 4A state tournament. We knew from the beginning that we had a chance at a trophy, and our girls played great.
SN — On day 1, you were +76 over par as a team. In round two, you were +69. You were consistent and improved from day 1 to day 2. How would you describe both days?
Ginter: I would say we felt pretty good after day one. I think each of the girls felt like they could have played a little bit better, but we were happy to be in third place knowing that. On day two, I felt like our girls were more comfortable with the course and the conditions, but the pressure was amped up. There were a lot of nerves on day one and day two. Our ability to improve our team score on day two proved to be the difference between third and fourth.
SN —Taryn Viramontes shot a 79 and 74 (ties with your daughter I understand) for third place. That’s some consistent shooting. Her scorecard shows she had two birdies and lots of pars on Day 2. She seems to enjoy the pressure. Your thoughts?
Ginter: Taryn had an amazing tournament. Coach Sawyer and I couldn’t be more proud of the progress she’s shown over the last 12 months. She’s improved both her physical skills as a golfer and her mental skills on the course. Both of us discussed how calm and collected she appeared to be all day long. This played a huge part in her ability to shoot her best round ever and to climb her way up the leaderboard, and finish one stroke out of a second. She led us to our first top-three placing as a team at the state tournament.
SN — Both Claire and Presley also helped you with under 100 scores over the two days.
Ginter: Claire and Presley did what they’ve done all year long. They were consistent for us and brought in the scores we needed to be competitive. We knew it was going to be a difficult task to overcome Hayden’s day one lead, but we were fighting for a chance to bring us home some hardware. The two of them fought hard to bring in the best score they could with what they had that day. They accomplished that. To have three sophomores playing the way they did this year points to a very exciting future for the program. Presley set another PR on day two of the state tournament under immense pressure. That says a lot about her and her fight.
SN — You and Winfield have been so close back and forth all year, and sure enough, you were just six strokes apart in the final state tournament tallies. Is this a rivalry?
Ginter: I would have to say that us and Winfield have definitely developed a little bit of a rivalry in girls golf. They have some very talented young ladies as do we and it has been a dog fight in every tournament we were matched up. We played well enough to get them this time and it will be exciting to see what the future holds for both teams.
SN — This is your first team state placing and state trophy? Your reaction?
Ginter: One of our team goals this year was to finish in the top three at the state tournament. To be able to do that for the first time was huge for our program. We have two great seniors in Aubrey and Evelyn who helped make that happen. They have been great for our program and will be missed. The fact that we’re LED by three sophomores as well and a freshman bodes well for the future.
