Rockridge girls’ golf looking to take the next step | High School Golf – QCVarsity.com

Coming off a Three Rivers Conference team title, the Rockets had plenty of confidence they could advance beyond the IHSA Class 1A Alleman Regional, which featured one of the toughest fields in the state.

However, Rockridge’s postseason came to an all-too-early end as its regional score of 359 strokes resulted in a fourth-place finish, eight strokes behind TRAC rival Peru St. Bede for the third and final sectional team berth.

“Some of our girls didn’t have their best days that day,” Rockridge head coach Daphne Graves said. “That’s definitely something the girls are taking away from 2021. They felt they had a good chance to get to sectionals, and I did, too. They’re definitely hungry for that (this season).”

That hunger has manifested itself in another strong start for the Rockets, who are 8-1 in dual meets with their only setback coming to Moline. In its first 18-hole tournament of 2022, Rockridge took first place at the Princeton Ryder Cup gathering.

“The girls we have on the team right now, all but one of them played in tourneys this past summer, and they all played on their own,” said Graves, whose squad also has 18-hole tourneys coming up at Geneseo, Mercer County and Stillman Valley.

“It’s not like at the start of the season, it was here we go, let’s pick up the clubs. The girls were definitely ready, and it’s made us have the season we’ve started off with.”

At Princeton, junior Hannah Graves and sophomore sibling Neva Graves both carded 80s to share the individual championship. Seniors Amelia Rursch and Kylee White both shot 94s to tie for fourth, while sophomores Anna Carroll and Cloee Slaight also shot 94s and tied for fifth.

Out of six meets this season, Hannah Graves has been the medalist in five of them, with Rursch medaling in the other meet. Rursch is the lone returner among Rockridge’s three individual sectional qualifiers from last season.

“We’ve got three returning starters from last year, but we lost two key players we didn’t think we’d lose,” said Coach Graves. “Victoria Batey moved over to Pleasant Valley, and Lillian Dehner (a sectional qualifier along with Batey and Rursch) moved out to Colorado. We also lost Emma Slattery, who graduated, so I thought we’d take a hit to our varsity.

“We’ve had kids step up and fill those slots this year. We’re young with three sophomore starters, but they have a great bond, and they’re excited about this season.”

The Rockets will get the chance to defend their conference title on Sept. 14 when they head to the TRAC meet at Kewanee’s Baker Park Golf Course before diving into the IHSA postseason competition.

Besides last year’s near-miss at regionals, Rockridge has an extra dose of motivation with the return of Blaine Kernan to the coaching staff as he continues to move forward after being paralyzed following an automobile accident in June of ’21.

“Blaine loves the game of golf,” Graves said. “The girls know his situation, and they’re hanging onto that. Our motto this year is, ‘Do it for Blaine.'”