NEW PALESTINE — Katie Kelley has a song stuck in her head.
Lily Kirchner is blasting tunes as loud as she can and Lauren Deering is being very quiet.
Their approaches may be different, but their scores are similar and always at the top of the leaderboard.
Led by the trio that have each won a major championship this month, New Palestine’s girls golf team won the New Palestine Sectional at The Links Golf Club in New Palestine Monday.
It’s the team’s third straight sectional title and third big tournament victory in September. The team score of 324 was the lowest of the year.
For the second straight year, Kelley, a junior, won the individual sectional championship. She did it with a round of 76, 38s on both sides. Deering, a sophomore, was second with a 77 and Kirchner, a senior, placed third with an 81.
On Sept. 3, the Dragons defended their Hancock County Tournament championship with another 1-2-3 finish. Kirchner won the nine-hole tournament at Hawk’s Tail of Greenfield Golf Course with a 38. Deering shot 39 and Kelley finished with a 40.
On Sept. 14, at the Hoosier Heritage Conference Tournament at Albany Golf Club, Deering won with a 77. Kelley was third with an 84 and Kirchner was fourth with an 85. Only Mt. Vernon’s Izzy VanHeel, with a runner-up score of 81, was able to break up the trio.
“I think it means we all work really hard and there is not one that is way better than the rest of us. We’re all three around the same-ish. It could be any day we could all shoot the same score,” Kirchner said.
“It is very cool,” New Palestine head coach Sarah O’Brien said of having a third different player win an individual title. “I haven’t always had teams like this and it’s a lot of fun. I’m happy for all of them and they are happy for each other and so supportive of each other. All of them, from top to bottom, do a great job of lifting each other up.”
Kelley must’ve thought ‘It’s Time’ for her to win.
“I always have a song stuck in my head [when I play]” Kelley, who had a career-low round at the Dragons’ home course, said. “I play that in my head and relax, and trust my swing.”
For Monday’s round, it was — of course — the Imagine Dragons, and their 2011 hit, ‘It’s Time.’
“I listened to it driving over and while warming up,” she said.
“We all have our own individual things we do,” Kirchner added. “I had my music all the way up, full blast, as loud as my car could possibly go on my way [to the golf course]. Lauren doesn’t talk. Katie slightly talks.”
Whatever it takes it works.
The Dragons, by winning Monday’s tournament, move on to Saturday’s Lapel Regional at The Edge in Anderson.
At the sectional level, the top three teams advance and the top three individuals not on the top three teams also move on to regional play.
It’s the same format Saturday for getting a spot to the IHSAA Girls Golf State Finals the first weekend in October at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel.
The Dragons are trying to return to the state meet for the second straight year.
“They were ready to play today,” O’Brien said of her team. “They seemed to get pretty hyped up about the big tournaments and they perform well, which is great. I saw lots of good shots, lots of scrambling around the greens. We were a little unsure what to expect. We didn’t get a lot of rain, but enough to slow things down a bit. The ball wasn’t rolling quite as much as they are used to, the greens might have been a hair slower, but they seemed to adapt pretty well.”
It was a strong effort from all of the Dragons. Senior Janie Hamilton shot a 90 and was eighth overall. Matti Tiede-White shot a 98.
Mt. Vernon was the tournament runner-up and will also move on to the regional. The Marauders shot a 362.
Marissa Miner and Kylie Hyde each shot 88s and tied for fifth. VanHeel, Natalie Miner and Gigi Avers all shot 93s.
Greenfield-Central’s Tanessa O’Neal carded a 100 and was the third individual to earn a spot in Saturday’s regional.
Shenandoah’s team score of 403 earned the third team-qualifying spot.
“As a team, this means we are improving,” Deering said of the low round. “That’s our best score and to be able to pull it through in the sectional means a lot.”
Greenfield-Central finished fifth with a 432. Eastern Hancock placed seventh with a 472. With a 110, Myah Gardner had the low round for the Royals.
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2024 New Palestine Girls Golf Sectional
Team scores (top 3 teams advance to regional): New Palestine 324, Mt. Vernon 362, Shenandoah 403, Rushville 430, Greenfield-Central 432, Triton Central 457, Eastern Hancock 472, Knightstown 501
Top individual scorers: Katie Kelley, New Palestine, 76; Lauren Deering, New Palestine, 77; Lily Kirchner, New Palestine, 81; Madelyn Shelton, Shenandoah, 82; Marissa Miner, Mt. Vernon 88, Kylie Hyde, Mt. Vernon, 88; Emma Tressler, Rushville, 89; Janie Hamilton, New Palestine, 90; Izzy VanHeel, Mt. Vernon, 93; Natalie Miner, Mt. Vernon, 93; Gigi Avers, Mt. Vernon, 93.
Top 3 individuals (not with top 3 teams, advancing to regional): Tressler, 89; Kennedy Hall, Triton Central, 96; Tanessa O’Neal, Greenfield-Central, 100.
