Bryn Mawr, Maryvale prevail in A and B golf, Ishii claims individual A crown
By Nelson Coffin
nelson@iaamsports.com
Bryn Mawr found its comfort zone while claiming a third straight A Conference championship on Wednesday afternoon at Fox Hollow Golf Course in Timonium.
The Mawrtians, paced by individual champion Julianna Ishii (71), finished five strokes in front of runner-up Roland Park Country School (142) to earn the three-peat and fifth outright title (co-champs with Archbishop Spalding in 2018). The neighborhood rivals were tied after the first round before Bryn Mawr pulled away on the final day.
St. Paul’s School for Girls (149), Mount de Sales Academy (154), McDonogh (157) and Spalding (162) were next.
“Everybody knows each other pretty well, they know each other’s games,” Bryn Mawr coach March Klein said. “And I think the social aspect of it was very comfortable. They were all having a lot of fun together. They were all walking together, hanging out, laughing. And that’s important for girls in general when they’re playing golf — that they support each other.”
Another reason that Bryn Mawr’s tensions were minimized was because of the presence of freshman Maddie Navaleza (78), whose sister, Caitlyn (74), tied for second with junior teammate Tatyana Smith and Roland Park sophomore Sloane Mitchell, made the Mawrtians tough to beat.
“She’s a freshman, and she’s never played in this before,” Klein added. “She was in the third group by herself, and we kind of put a lot of expectations on her that our team can pretty much get pars on every hole,” without worrying about personal scores while still being aggressive. “She was great with that and the rest of our team bought in.”
Ishii, who shared the first-day lead with Mitchell (74) and Mount de Sales senior Lani Park (76), said that she was a little nervous heading into the second round. RPCS senior Ashby McGill tied Park for fifth place.
“I just tried to keep it in my head that I’ve done this before,” Ishii said. “It’s not my first tournament and it was going to be okay if I lost. Competing against two former individual champs, Park and Smith, felt “very familiar and comfortable,” considering that they frequently play together in tournaments outside of the IAAM. “I just started to have fun.”
The sophomore added that her driver worked well until the final hole and that her short game was “a lot better than expected. The greens were very slow and hard to work with, but it was still a lot of fun.”
She concluded by saying that winning the championship is “incredible. I know it means a lot to the team and to the school.”
Maryvale (169) edged two-time defending champion John Carroll (171) and Mercy (171) for B Conference laurels with Garrison Forest (173), Notre Dame Prep (205), Catholic High (229) and St. Vincent Pallotti (244) following.
John Carroll senior Gianna DeBrigida (87) and Garrison’s Sophie Epstein were co-individual champs. Maryvale’s Harper Jackson (89), Mercy’s Hannah DeMario (90), Garrison Forest’s Kelsey Riggleman (92) and Maryvale’s Mia Compton (94) were next in line.