Hinton girls cop third straight WEC golf title

The Hinton girls golf team celebrates after placing second in Class 1A at the state golf meet for the second year in a row. Front row (left to right): Kaitlin Rodgers, Stephanie Smith, Britni Freed, Erin Hedlund, Amanda Moody, Sam Thiele. Back row: Coach Julie Clausen. [Click to enlarge]

In recent years, the Hinton girls golf squad has been a force in schooling War Eagle Conference opponents on the links as the Blackhawks copped league titles each year since 2001 - save for the Gehlen Lady Jays' title in 2005 - and the spring of 2008 was no exception.

After the Blackhawks clinched the WEC dual season title with a perfect 8-0 record, Julie Clausen's squad went on to conquer the conference tournament in Alton on May 5.

"Winning the War Eagle [Conference] was one of their goals this year," Clausen told the Daily Sentinel in May. "We're glad we accomplished our goal."

With a team score of 188, the Blackhawks edged out the second place squad in South O'Brien who carded a team 210 on the course. Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn and West Sioux tied for third with scores of 229 while Gehlen shot a team 233 to take fifth. Akron-Westfield was eighth with a 254 while Remsen St. Mary's was ninth with a 312.

The Blackhawks were led to their conference title by Kaitlin Rodgers who earned medalist honors at the meet with a round of 43. SOS's Carrie Egdorft carded a 45 to take second.

Also finishing in the top five individually were Erin Hedlund in third with a 46 and Britni Freed in fifth with a 47.

Rodgers, Hedlund and Freed all earned first team all-conference honors in 2008. Stephanie Smith and Samantha Thiele each were named to the second team.

But the Blackhawks' success did not end with their league title. A couple weeks later, Hinton took first place at the district meet and then shot a team score of 364 at the regional meet to take top honors on their home course and advance to state for the third time in four years. The team score broke Hinton's home record on 18 holes by five strokes.

Leading Hinton's squad was Freed, who earned medalist honors with an 86 (43-43) on her scorecard.

"Britni was pretty excited," Clausen said in May. "We all knew that she could [medal], but she just needed to prove to herself that she could do it again. She needed that confidence booster meet and today was a good one for her."

Rodgers trailed her teammate by just one stroke, carding an 87 on the round of 18, and tying with Remsen-Union's Gina Frericks for second place.

Hedlund totaled 95 and Smith shot a 96 as the Blackhawks won the meet.

When the Blackhawks got to Marshalltown for the state meet the next week, they had one goal in mind - a state title.

"We were hoping to take it up a notch to win the title this year," Clausen told the Daily Sentinel after the state meet.

Unfortunately, her squad came up just short for the second straight year, earning runner-up honors in Class 1A with a team score of 743 over the two-day tournament.

The 2007 Class 2A state champion Grundy Center came down to 1A and won the state title with a team score of 726. Turkey Valley was third with a 768.

Leading the Blackhawks at state was Rodgers, who placed fourth in Class 1A with a two-day total of 173 (87-86).

Behind her were Freed and Hedlund, who both carded scores of 185. Hedlund shot a 91 on the first day and a 94 on day two while Freed split rounds of 95 and 90.

Smith shot rounds of 103-101 to card a 204 for the tournament while Thiele finished her senior season with a score of 206 (97-109).

Rodgers, Hedlund and Freed all earned first team all-state honors while Smith was named to the second team.