By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The Conner girls golf team will make its debut in the state championship tournament next week after placing third in a sectional qualifier on Tuesday at Kenton County Willows.
Eight teams from Regions 5-8 competed in the qualifier. Louisville Sacred Heart topped the team standings with a 312 total, followed by Louisville Assumption (352) and Conner (382). Notre Dame finished fourth, two stokes behind Conner’s state qualifying score.
The top three teams in three sectional qualifiers will make up the nine-team field for the girls state championship tournament Oct. 9-10 at Bowling Green Country Club.
Things just went our way today,” said Conner coach Bailey Craddock. “Willows is a really tough course, but I was really proud of our girls. They showed a lot of mental toughness and got the job done.”
Conner is the first Region 7 team to reach the state championship finals since the sectional qualifiers were added in 2024. Before that, teams that won region tournaments advanced to the season finale.
The Cougars’ team leader in Tuesday’s round was junior Sofia Seals, who was 10th on the leaderboard with an 8-over 80. She finished the front nine with a 2-over 38, After starting the much longer back nine with five bogeys, she had three pars and one bogey to card a 6-over 42.
The other scoring golfers for Conner were junior Bella White (95), and eighth-graders Eva Fey (103) and Cam Broering (104).
Seals started her varsity career as a seventh-grader, but this will be her first appearance in the state championship tournament.
“I think Sofia definitely is one of the best players in the region and the best player in school history,” Craddock said. “To see her getting this accomplishment of being able to make it to the final round of the state with her teammates is just incredible. She’s been our leader all year, so I’m very happy for her.”
The top two names on the individual leaderboard were Sacred Heart teammates Keira Yun with an even-par 72 and Greer Wathen (75).
Yun was medalist in last year’s state championship tournament as a junior.
One of the 15 individual state qualifiers was St. Henry eighth-grader Reese Anthony, who tied for fourth place with a 6-over 78. She was medalist in last week’s Region 7 tournament.
The other local golfers who earned state tournament berths were Elizabeth Dickson (81) of Ryle, Maria Penaranda (82) of Notre Dame (82) and Lacey Wilson (85) of Ryle.
The complete team and individual scores from the Region 5-8 girls sectional tournament are posted on the khsaa.com website.