Girls golf: Cleveland’s Kyra Ly puts on all-time performance, Jesuit wins third-straight title in Class 6A championships

CRESWELL – Cleveland’s Kyra Ly took the OSAA history books and threw them out the window during the Class 6A state championships at Emerald Valley Golf Club on Monday and Tuesday.

After finishing the first day with seven-under-par 65, Ly turned around and did it again. Finishing the second day of competition with seven-under-par 65 for a total of 130 for the tournament and the individual state championship.

The Oregon State-bound Ly’s total is a new state record. The previous record was 11-under-par 133 and was set by Beaverton’s Gigi Stoll in 2015.

But despite ending the best tournament in state history, and bringing home Cleveland’s first individual golf championship (boys or girls), the soft-spoken Ly maintained composure as if she was still on the green.

“I do not feel like it’s hit me yet,” Ly said. “I’m just really happy that I played well.”

Ly started the state championships on fire. She had a seven-under-par 65 after the first day, tying her for the best one-day performance by an OSAA Class 6A girls golfer at Emerald Valley. The only other competitor to reach that mark was Ellie Elama of South Salem in 2017.

But the days leading up to the state tournament were not simple for Ly, who was worried about her final high school competition.

“It was tough. The last few days I put a lot of pressure on myself, ”Ly said. ”But once I started out and I played the practice round, it felt a lot better. I went in with confidence. ”

Helen Brodahl of Wells finished second with 146. In third was Sunset’s Erika Kobayashi with 147.

The win caps off Ly’s high school career, and she said it was extra nice to be able to come back after two missed seasons due to COVID-19 and finally win a state championship.

“I’m just really happy to be able to be out here and play my last tournament as a high school athlete and I’m glad I was able to do some damage.”

In the team race, it seems that even a global pandemic could not stop the momentum that the Jesuit girls have been riding. The Crusaders won state team titles in 2018 and 2019 before the following two seasons were canceled due to COVID-19. On Tuesday, Jesuit took the championship again with a finish of 469.

“We’re calling it the pandemic repeat,” said Jesuit coach Michele Gray.

“Especially for our two seniors. They played their freshman year and then missed pretty much the meat of their high school careers, ”Gray said. “To come back and win a state title is very sweet. Both of them were big contributors today. ”

Junior Anna Poulin was Jesuit’s top performer, finishing tied for fifth overall with five-over-par 149. Senior Beth Milne finished 12th overall with 12-over-par 156.

Mountainside ended the first day with 315, seven strokes ahead of Jesuit. But the Crusaders were not about to let their Metro League rivals ruin their tournament.

In her final competition for Jesuit, senior Zoe Park cleaned up her game on Tuesday. After Monday, Park had a 22-over-par 94. On day two, Park lowered that number to a 16-over-par 88. Gray praised the play of Park in the No. 4 spot for being a big part of the Crusaders’ rally on Tuesday.

“I told the girls this morning, ‘You know them. You’re as good as they are. You can walk right with them, ‘”Gray said. “And we just really stressed to play until the very end. It’s about mental toughness. It’s going to be about those last three or four holes. And it really was about the last three or four holes for our girls. I mean, amazing. ”

Mountainside finished second with 663. In third was West Linn with 665.

– Nik Streng, nstreng@oregonian.com, @NikStreng