Season Preview: 5A Girls Golf

WICHITA – Kapaun Mount Carmel senior Elea Navarro reported to the second day of girls golf practice – and first void of heavy rain – with an equal mix of enthusiasm and curiosity.
 
Her enthusiasm stemmed from the experience of helping the Crusaders win the Class 5A championship last October at Salina Municipal Golf Course. Navarro and teammate Abby Wolff, one of three departed seniors from Kapaun's 2020 state squad, shared 12^th place individually as the Crusaders pulled away from Mill Valley for a seven-shot victory.
 
Navarro's curiosity was generated by the potential of a talented trio missing from the opening practices due to summer tournament commitments. Junior Alexa Garrett, Kapaun's top finisher at state last season, was scheduled to join the team in the preseason's second week. Crusader newcomers Kate Tilma, a senior, and her freshman sister, Meg, were due to report in late August after playing junior events in Texas and attempting to qualify, with different partners, for the 2022 U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball Championship.
 
"It's definitely exciting, especially because we have Alexa again and we have the Tilma girls who are going to be joining us," Navarro said. "I'm really confident going into the season that we can go back to state and hopefully place high, which would be really exciting."
 
With their first competition scheduled for Sept. 7, the Crusaders have time to mesh. They were unbeaten in 2020, and despite not having a top-three or even a top-five finisher to anchor them at state – Garrett was ninth with a 36-hole total of 154 – Kapaun won its first 5A title since 2016.
 
"Having Elea and Alexa come back, they've participated on that stage and they know what to expect," Kapaun coach Marie Thomas said. "We told the girls who weren't the five on our (state) team, 'You still helped us regardless of whether you were participating on varsity or JV because you pushed one another.' That was the goal we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year, and we're going to try to do the same thing this year."
 
The Tilmas, daughters of former Big Eight Conference champion Cathy (Stevens) Tilma and granddaughters of Kansas golfing legend Johnny Stevens, strengthen the Crusaders' bid for a repeat. Kate Tilma returns to Kansas high school golf after sitting out her junior season. She played on the boys team at Wichita Classical School as a freshman and sophomore, and finished sixth in the 2019 Class 1A championship.
In the summer of 2020, she became the first female golfer in state history to win the Kansas Women's Amateur and Kansas Junior Amateur titles in the same year. Tilma also qualified for and competed in last month's U.S. Girls' Junior.
 
Meg Tilma tied for low junior honors at this summer's Kansas Women's Amateur and won the Sunflower Girls Championship against a field of top juniors from across the state.
 
"These girls have played golf their whole lives, and that's what they know," Thomas said. "We want the kids to play. If that means they've got to miss the first couple weeks of practice to do what they need to do, that's OK. Once they're here, we'll get going and we can make it work."
 
Navarro, who plays frequently with her father, Gary, a former Wichita State All-America golfer, has made steady progress at Kapaun. She finished 35^th at state as a freshman, and just missed an individual medal as a sophomore before posting rounds of 78 and 79 in Kapaun's state victory last season.
 
Garrett's record as a 2019 Wichita City League champion and top-10 finisher in each of two state appearances adds to the Crusaders' lofty expectations.
 
"I know Alexa is really good, and I'm trying to work hard on my game," Navarro said. "The Tilmas are always out on the course with their grandpa, playing in tournaments all over and shooting par and below. I think we'll be really confident going into this season."
 
Mill Valley will still be a force to contend with after finishing runner-up to the Crusaders a year ago. The Jaguars return last year's individual state champion, Libby Green, as well as fellow senior Charley Strahm, who took 22^nd last year.
 
Aquinas, which won three straight titles from 2017 to 2019 and took third last year, lost multi-time state placer Brooke King to graduation, but returns three members off last year's squad, led by senior Olivia White, who finished 21^st.
 
Hays was fourth at year ago and has a strong 1-2 punch in senior Taleia McCrae and junior Katie Dinkel. The duo took 18^th and 19^th, respectively, last year at state in helping the Indians to their highest state finish since taking third in Class 4A in 2015.
 
Blue Valley Southwest didn't qualify as a team a year ago, but if the Timberwolves can add to returning state qualifiers Hillary Currier (16^th) and Haylee Johnson (T27th), they could be a dark horse this season.