Columbus Academy girls golf team captures first state championship
Columbus Academy girls golf coach Maggie Freytag fought back tears as she reflected on her team's banner season.
In their fourth season, the Vikings earned their first state title, pulling away from Sugarcreek Garaway on the opening day of the Division II tournament Oct. 14 and maintaining control during the second round Oct. 15 at Ohio State’s Gray Course.
“This is very hard to believe, but they have worked so extremely hard for this day,” Freytag said. “They deserve it. They put so much work and effort into this. We’re just extremely excited to be here.”
Academy finished with a 647 and Garaway shot a 670. The Vikings led 317-337 after the opening round.
“I wasn’t comfortable (following the opening round),” Freytag said. “Anything can happen in golf and Garaway is a very strong team, so I knew we had to come in and really play hard. We tried to play like it was our first day and come in strong again. I just told them to do their best. We prepared for this day and we did the best that we could.”
Angela Hu led Academy with a 157 to finish seventh and earn second-team all-state honors.
“It’s amazing,” Hu said. “As a team, we finally made it. It’s been four years. I’m so happy that we did this together as a team. We’ve been working so hard for this. This was our goal and we finally achieved it. I’m so proud of all of us. We’re all so excited to be here.”
Grace Luo shot a 159 to finish eighth and earn second-team all-state. Eva Baker (165), Eliza Freytag (168) and Caroline Zeiger (177) rounded out Vikings’ lineup. Eliza is the coach’s daughter.
Last season in its first state tournament, Academy finished fourth (694) behind champion Lima Central Catholic (659).
Competing as an individual, Columbus School for Girls’ Emma Kim finished sixth (157) and was second-team all-state.
“I did OK,” Kim said. “I wanted to come out and play confidently and positively, but I know I struggled with that, especially in the beginning. Overall, I was pretty happy and I had fun.”
CSG coach Chris Ditello said his senior turned in a strong effort.
“We stuck to the same plan, try to keep it in play, try to eliminate the mistakes, give ourselves a look at par every hole and try to make pars,” Ditello said. "You’re going to have a few bad holes, but you just have to keep playing golf and that’s what she did.”
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Columbus Academy girls golf golf team wins first state title
