The Westminster girls golf team's goal has been to leave a lasting mark inside the school's new gymnasium.
"At the old school, they used to put in conference banners and sectional banners," Wildcats coach Steve Bradley said. "But, in the new gym, the only thing they put in are state championship banners. So, we're in there now."
Indeed they are, following the most dominant victory in the 36-year history of the Missouri girls golf championships.
Westminster capped an undefeated season by firing a 340 in the second round Tuesday at the Silo Ridge Golf and Country Club in Bolivar to finish with a two-day total of 673. That put the Wildcats 91 strokes ahead of second-place Maryville. Westminster shattered the state tournament record for biggest margin of victory. The old record was 62, a mark set in 2006 by Pembroke Hill.
"It was almost anticlimactic," Bradley said. "But I am so excited for this team."
To make things even better, Westminster also can boast the individual champion. Brooke Cusumano carded an 80-84 – 164 to win by two strokes over Cole Camp's Megan Keck (83-83 – 166).
"Honestly, I would have been fine if I didn't win an individual title and just my team won," Cusumano said.
Not far off Cusumano's pace were Westminster's Margaret Moore and Jordan Wolf. Moore (82-85-167) finished third in the state tournament, and Wolf (84-84-168) fourth. Westminster's Ciara Younger (87-87-174) tied for seventh.
"I was actually pulling for my teammates to beat me, and I'm a very competitive person," Cusumano said. "Any of them could have had the low score. It just happened to be me at this meet."
All of those top-notch performances could have made it hard for a coach to figure out which of his golfers to watch out on the course. Not to worry, Bradley said.
"Since they were all so close in score yesterday, they were able to be bunched into four or five straight groups," he said. "So, we could just park at one hole and watch them all come through."
Defending Class 1 champion Villa Duchesne rebounded from a rocky first day to finish third in the state finals. Villa Duchesne shot 378 Tuesday after opening with a 397.
"Out of the eight teams, we were the only one to improve our score today," Villa Duchesne coach Linda Potter said. "It was a thrill to be able to do that and we did it by 19 shots."
Despite not repeating as Class 1 champ, Potter was thrilled for Westminster.
"We are happy they are bringing the first place trophy back to St. Louis and back to the Metro League," she said.
Other area medalists (top 15) were the ninth-place tie of John Burroughs freshman Logan Otter (85-90-175) and MICDS senior Campbell Torchin (89-86-175) and the 15th place finish by MICDS junior Darby Hobbs (86-92-178).
