Defending champion Amelia Dunseth battled to win the title, but didn’t notice how close she was to losing her Big Northern Conference golf title.
“I don’t check the scores during the round, so I don’t know what everyone is doing,” the Stillman Valley senior said. “I don’t watch because it makes me think too much.”
Madison Bushnell didn’t look either. She didn’t have to.
“My dad made sure to show me,” Bushnell said. The sophomore, just the fourth player from Rockford Lutheran, tied for the conference lead after birdieing No. 2 at Timber Pointe, her 14th hole after a shotgun start Wednesday. She shot the next three holes in 5-over par and finished fourth with an 87, three shots behind Dunseth.
“I was very stressed, but I’m OK,” Bushnell said.
That’s because she helped Lutheran win the team title, shooting 369 to Dixon’s 374. Byron, which lost to Lutheran in a six-man tiebreaker in the team duel after even their fifth players tied, was a distant third with 401 shots.
Ella Pieschel, a third-year student at Lutheran School, finished second overall with an 85 and Alayna Brandt, a sophomore at Byron, was third with an 86. The top five golfers each finished one shot behind the golfer in front of them.
Dunseth looked set to win the individual title with ease before going into a period where she was 8 over par through six holes, including three double bogeys. She then recovered and was just 3 over par through her final six holes.
“I didn’t have the best game I wanted, but I won,” Dunseth said. “I had a double on 14 because I hit my ball in the water. That kind of depressed me. I tried to move quickly, but it kept me going for a few extra holes. It was great to finally make a par. I was worried for a while that I wasn’t going to make a par.”
Bushnell, junior Ella Pieschel (second with an 85) and junior Madelyn Bennett (eighth with a 93) led a young Lutheran team to the team title.
“Our team has grown together,” Bennett said. “It’s really rewarding to come out on top.”
Lutheran’s fourth girl coming in second for the team isn’t unusual for the Crusaders, who have aimed all year to advance to state as a team.
“We don’t know who’s going to shoot what,” Pieschel said. “It’s really cool. We can have our best player shoot in the 80s and have other guys shoot in the 80s as well.”
Girls of NUIC
Galena shot 440 at Lake Carroll, beating Pearl City (457) and West Carroll (472). River Ridge (476), Eastland (497) and Pecatonica (499) rounded out the top six in the 10-team tournament.
River Ridge junior Sarah Winter shot an 87 to win the gold medal by eight shots. Forreston senior Aspen McGlynn was second with a 95, Eastland junior Jaden Brower was third with a 97 and Stockton senior Masyn Cahill was fourth with a 99.
Matt Trowbridge is a sports reporter for the Rockford Register Star. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @MattTrowbridge.
This article was originally published on the Rockford Register Star: Balanced Lutheran tops Dixon to win Big Northern women’s golf title
