Mountainside's girls golf team put an exclamation point on a breakthrough season Monday at the OGA Golf Course in Woodburn.
The Mavericks dominated an eight-team tournament against other top 6A teams from the Portland area, shooting a school-record score of 291. They finished far ahead of the two second-place teams, Jesuit and Clackamas, who tied at 324.
“They just had such a phenomenal season,” Mountainside coach Merritt Richardson said.
Mountainside junior Sofia Fuenmayor shot a three-under 68 to win the tournament. The Mavericks also got strong performances from junior Emily Song (third-71), senior Cydney Chhim (tied for fourth-73) and sophomore Stella Lee (14th-79).
“It was their first time seeing some new competition, and they were really excited like, 'Let's see what we can do,'” Richardson said. “It was kind of like they all put it together on the same day. It was really fun to watch.”
Mountainside won four of five Metro League tournaments this season, with the other won by two-time reigning 6A champion Jesuit. Fuenmayor won two of the tournaments and Song won one.
“They've both been cruising along,” Richardson said of Fuenmayor and Song, who placed 12th and 10th, respectively, in the 6A tournament as freshmen in 2019. “I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do next year as seniors.”
Fuenmayor and Song were on top of their game Monday and got plenty of support. Chhim, who has been shooting in the low- to mid-80s this season, came through with a career round. Lee broke 80 for the first time in competition.
Hannah Lim of Clackamas was the runner-up with a 69. Jesuit's Katya Kurkoski and Anna Poulin tied Chhim for fourth place at 73. West Linn's Baylor Brundage and Lakeridge's Maddie Baker tied for seventh at 74.
The other teams competing were Westview (346), Lakeridge (350), West Linn (365), Canby (368) and Wells (368).
Mountainside, which placed fifth at state in 2019, didn't get a chance to go after a state title in its fourth varsity season. But the Mavericks have high hopes for 2022 as they rally around Fuenmayor and Song.
“We're really optimistic about our upside and potential, for sure,” Richardson said. “If everybody sticks with it and continues to improve, the sky is the limit. Our two juniors are very highly motivated and they love playing together as a team.”