The Miners girls golf team wrapped up the two days of play at the 4A state tournament Thursday at Glendale Golf Course in Salt Lake City, carding a +89 in challenging, windy conditions.
Park City had navigated the conditions better than anyone else in the 4A field and were told by UHSAA officials that they had won their first state title after finishing in second place eight times since 2008, when girls golf became UHSAA sanctioned.
The celebrations and congratulations were short-lived for the Miners, who were soon informed by the same officials that they had made a scoring error, having to do with entering the scores of two sisters on then-second place Juan Diego Catholic incorrectly. When the scores were retallied, Park City was tied with Juan Diego, whom they had edged out for the regional title last month by one team point.
The tie would be settled with an eight-player playoff, featuring four players from each team playing hole 10 at Glendale, with all scores being tallied up.
As Juan Diego perhaps celebrated newfound life and scrambled to set their lineup for the playoff, Miners Head Coach George Murphy knew exactly what he was going to do. Freshman Eleanor Henderson, senior Chloe Aldous, sophomore Madeline Hadar and junior Ava Miller had been Park City’s top players at state and all season, and the team was going to go out throwing their favorite pitch.
Likely far more nervous than his players, Murphy told them to hit the practice putting green before the playoff for a few minutes of critical practice and focusing.
Thankful for Murphy, he likely was one of the most nervous of the Miners bunch. Miller walked up to him and said she wasn’t nervous and was ready to tee off first for the team and set the tone. As Juan Diego took a bit too much risk and sailed approach shots over the flagpin, Park City’s players played hole 10 calm as they had all day; they aimed well right of the pin to a safe part of the green and made solid putts.
The Miners scored 18 as a team on the playoff hole and Juan Diego 21. At long last, the trophy was finally and truly Park City’s.
“We celebrated, shook hands, had a good little pow wow in there, went out to take some pictures and they (UHSAA officials) came out about five minutes later. ‘Hey, we have a scoring issue,’” Murphy said, recounting the wild final sequences Thursday. “It took about another 10 minutes to figure it out, and it came out it was tied. So, they went from elation to a quick letdown.”
Murphy was immensely proud of his team’s resolve, not allowing the lows of the situation to keep them down. He said they felt even aggravated and motivated by having the state title only for officials to take it away; they needed to reclaim what was theirs.
“We were able to pull it out with some clutch, clutch playing by our kids,” Murphy said. “Having the girls win it in the playoff was almost sweeter and better. … They were a little bit more elated.”
Murphy said parents and other teams flanked the 10th green during the playoff, ratcheting up the pressure even more. He believes the season-long regional battle with Juan Diego helped prepare his team for the moment. Both Murphy and Juan Diego’s coaching staff expressed gratitude this week for having each other in Region 10.
“We just got in a little huddle on the green on hole 10 and told them how proud of them we were,” Murphy said about his team’s celebrations. “It was fun to watch, fun to be a part of, and we’re so happy for those girls to get a victory because it does hurt to finish second. … These girls played hard all year. They deserve it.”
The Miners also went and celebrated Thursday’s win and the season as a whole with a dinner in Park City.
“I think this title has been a long time coming,” Aldous said. “Over the past two years especially, I’ve seen how much harder our team worked and how we have pushed ourselves to continue shooting lower. … I think that the playoff hole exemplified how prepared we were and how we were the better team. I think the playoff hole was the perfect way to end the title.”
Murphy is excited to hopefully lead this team toward a back-to-back state title next season. The Miners will return five of six state players, with Aldous graduating. Aldous finished ninth individually, shooting +20, and Henderson finished fourth, shooting +13.
“We have got some strong team teams in our region, but we’ve got a strong group coming back,” Murphy said. “I know it’s not common for an administrator to be a head coach; I’m grateful for the opportunity with my change in my career path. … We’ll see what they say, but I’d love a chance to see these girls go back-to-back and defend their title.”