Mercer Island wins KingCo tourney crown for perfect league season

For the fourth straight spring, the Mercer Island girls golf team is a KingCo champion, undefeated in KingCo dual meets.

The team also won the KingCo tournament on Monday, breaking the team scoring record.

It has been four years since the Islanders lost a dual meet, and in the last six years the team has a 72-3 record.

“They are one of the hardest working teams,” said head coach Don Papasedero of this years squad. “They are diligent practicers.”

The Islanders won the KingCo tournament, held at Snohomish Golf Course, with a 407 team score. The previous record was a team score of 417, set by Interlake in 2003.

Papasedero said all six golfers from Mercer Island who competed at KingCo advanced to the district meet. Haley Chinn was the KingCo medalist, winning the event.

Chinn won with a 74, while Chelsea Saelee was second with a 76, Kayce Ogishima followed with a 79, Sarah Peterson shot an 87 and Jolie Shen earned an 88. Maddy Pearson qualified for the district tournament as well, shooting a 97.

While not only winning matches every week, the team also set scoring records. During the Redmond Invitational, hosted by Redmond — a top 4A KingCo team — the Islanders won, setting a record on the course. Papasedero said the Redmond Invitational was probably the team’s closest match of the season, battling against another top team in the state.

“It was very close, because they are very good,” he said.

At the Skagit Valley Invitational last month, the team did it again, earning a 317 team score to win the title, setting another record.

But the Islanders weren’t done yet — on Tuesday afternoon, in a match rescheduled from earlier in the season against Juanita, the Islanders hit a new KingCo record of 194 strokes, beating Newport’s old record of 204 strokes.

Against the Rebels, at Wellington Hills Golf Course, Chelsea Saelee and Haley Chinn were the top finishers, each with 35 strokes. Jolie Shen finished third with a 40, while Kayce Ogishima tied for fifth place with Sarah Peterson. Both had scores of 42.

“I think our biggest opponent is probably ourselves,” said the coach of what it will take for the Islanders to get to the state meet. “If they relax and play confident I think they can get pretty far.”

The team’s six qualifiers from KingCo will compete in the SeaKing district event on Monday, May 16 at Riverbend Golf Course.

Contact Mercer Island Reporter Reporter Megan Managan at mmanagan@mi-reporter.com or (206) 232-1215 ext. 5054.

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