St. Bede girls lead to team success

The St. Bede girls had a successful season on the links this golf season, advancing to the sectional meet on the strength of a third-place finish in their own regional at Spring Creek Golf Course.

Two Lady Bruins head up the 2009 All-BCR Girls Golf team, including Golfer of the Year Bekki Prokup, and three more dot the honorable mention list.

Here’s the scorecard for this year’s All-BCR ladies.

Olivia Dean, junior (St. Bede): Filled in nicely as the No. 2 golfer on the Lady Bruins’ sectional qualifier, averaging 52.2 for the season. The ace-in-waiting carded a 104 in the St. Bede Regional, helping the Lady Bruins to a third-place team finish to qualify for sectionals.

“She grew a lot this season,” SBA coach Rich Cummings said. “She had Bekki to sort of chase, and along with that, Katie Gregorich and Hanna Billig also sort of pushed Olivia a little bit. We had four solid golfers, and Rachel Struna was a good fifth for us at regional time.”

Alizabeth Fiorini, sophomore (Princeton): The PHS sophomore played well against the upperclassmen around here, scoring a 107 in the St. Bede 1A Regional to qualify for sectional play. One of just two returnees from last year’s regional champions at PHS, Fiorini averaged a team-high 53.2.

Jessica Headley, senior (Princeton): Another returnee from PHS’ 2008 regional champions, the PHS senior punched a ticket back to sectional with a round of 111 in the St. Bede Regional. The only upperclassman on this year’s Tigress squad, Headley averaged a 54.5.

Abby Nielsen, senior (Bureau Valley): Although she failed to make a return to sectionals this fall, the Storm captain led her team with a 55.3 average. First-year BV head coach Duane Price said Nielsen’s come a long way considering she’s only been playing the game for two years.

“I think she’s got great talent that we only wish we had developed as a freshman,” Price said.

This year Nielsen had a full team around her and led her younger teammates by example, Price said.

Bekki Prokup, senior (St. Bede): The Lady Bruins’ ace had by far the best average of the area’s lady linksters this fall with a round of 45.6. She led all county golfers with a round of 90 in the 1A regional on her home course at Spring Creek in Spring Valley, good for a fourth-place finish.