Coming into Tuesday’s 7th Region golf tournament at the Pioneer Course at Kenton County, there wasn’t much doubt who was going to come out on top.
Cooper continued to leave no doubt, winning the tournament by 53 strokes over second place Ryle and earning their fourth straight region crown.
Individually Reagan Ramage won her fourth straight region title, Jaguars Kendall Brissey tied for second with Ryle’s Anika Okuda with a 75, Cooper’s Eva Maley fourth with a 76. The three have finished in the top four individually the last four years.
“It’s quite nice to have a luxury like that with those three,” Jaguars coach Joe Deters said. “They were able to compete, course played a little tougher today and they had to battle through. Those two (Brissey and Maley) on any given day could have been regional champions with the way they’ve been playing this year.”
The three were followed by Ava Finke with a 91 and Sydney Koenig with a 94 to round out the Jaguars scoring.
Ramage said she wasn’t too happy with her play the past couple of weeks, but a practice session on Monday helped her confidence.
“I was really struggling with my mental game and my physical game for a couple of weeks,” Ramage said. “A good practice last night had me feeling really good coming into today and the front nine today showed me really what I can do.”
It’s Cooper’s seventh tournament win this season including their fifth straight Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference championship they won last week. Tuesday’s win advances them to the sub-state tournament Monday at The Willows at Kenton County, a course they’re familiar with.
“It’s one of our home courses so I feel pretty confident in myself and my team that we can come out on top,” Ramage said.
They’ll play against Regions 5-8, the top two teams from each region advancing along with the top 10 individuals. At sub-state, the top three teams out of eight and top 15 individuals not on those teams then advance to the state tournament in Bowling Green Oct. 3-4.
“You always want to be battle tested going into the postseason. We feel like we’ve played the best teams around, we think that sets us up pretty good as we go forward into the postseason,” Deters said.
Ryle shot a 366 to finish second. Okuda’s 75 paced them, followed by Elizabeth Dickson (86), Morgan Poe (101), Lacey Wilson (104) and Nikia Cornett (106). It’s their first time advancing to the next round since 2016, when they won the 6th Region.
Outside of the two teams, the 10 individual qualifiers for sub-state were Notre Dame’s Didi Jiradamkerg (80), Dixie Heights’ Addyson St. John (91), Conner’s Sofia Seals (91), St. Henry’s Lexi McMillin (94), Walton-Verona’s Ava Kilps (96), Beechwood’s Ellie Stamm (96), St. Henry’s Carly Apgar (97), Beechwood’s Bella Conrad (99), Simon Kenton’s Cayde Chatterton (101) and Dixie Heights’ Christen Tarter (102).
TEAM SCORING
Cooper — 313
Ryle — 366
St. Henry — 405
Notre Dame — 408
Beechwood — 416
Walton-Verona — 471
Conner — 519
INDIVIDUAL SCORING (TOP 15)
Par 71
Reagan Ramage, Cooper — 71
Anika Okuda, Ryle — 75
Kendall Brissey, Cooper — 75
Eva Maley, Cooper — 75
Did Jiradamkerng, Notre Dame — 80
Elizabeth Dickson, Ryle — 86
Ava Finke, Cooper — 91
Addyson St. John, Dixie Heights — 91
Sofia Seals, Conner — 91
Sydney Koenig, Cooper — 94
Lexi McMillin, St. Henry — 94
Ava Klips, Walton-Verona — 96
Ellie Stamm, Beechwood — 96
Carly Apgar, St. Henry — 97
Bella Conrad, Beechwood — 99