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Defending champion Amelia Dunseth struggled home but did not notice how close she came to losing her Big Northern Conference golf title.
“I don’t check the scores during the round, so I didn’t know what everyone was doing,” the Stillman Valley senior said. “I don’t look because it makes me overthink.”
Madison Bushnell didn’t look, either. She didn’t have to.
“My dad made sure he showed me,” Bushnell said. The sophomore, only the No. 4 player for Rockford Lutheran, found she was tied for the lead in the entire conference after making a birdie on No. 2 at Timber Pointe, her 14th hole after a shotgun start Wednesday. She played the next three holes in five-over and finished fourth with an 87, three strokes behind Dunseth.
“I was stressing out a lot, but it’s OK,” Bushnell said.
That’s because she helped Lutheran take the team title, shooting 369 to Dixon’s 374. Byron, which lost to Lutheran in a sixth-player tie-breaker in the team dual after even their fifth players tied, was a distant third with 401 strokes.
Lutheran junior Ella Pieschel was second overall at 85 and Byron sopomore Alayna Brandt third at 86. The top five golfers each finished one stroke behind the golfer in front of them.
Dunseth looked like she would win the individual title easily before hitting a stretch where she was 8-over-par in six holes, including three double bogeys. She then righted herself and was only 3 over on her final six holes.
“I didn’t have my A game like I wanted to, but I got the win,” Dunseth said. “I got a double on 14 because I hit it in the water. That got me down a little. I tried to fast forward, but it stuck with me a few more holes. It felt great to finally get a par. I was nervous for a minute there that I wouldn’t get any.”
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 up together,” Bennett said. “It’s really rewarding to come out on top.”
Lutheran’s No. 4 girl coming in second for the team is not unusual for the Crusaders, who have been aiming 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 low 80s and have a couple of other people do that as well.”
NUIC girls
Galena shot 440 at Lake Carroll o beat 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 87 to win medalist honors by eight strokes. Forreston senior Aspen McGlynn finished second with a 95, Eastland junior Jaden Brower was third at 97 and Stockton senior Masyn Cahill fourth at 99.
Matt Trowbridge is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at mtrowbridge@rrstar.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @MattTrowbridge.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Balanced Lutheran outduels Dixon to win Big Northern girls golf title