Hilbrant, Sheehan Qualify For Golf Sectional

Halfway through the Class 2A regional golf tournament at Winnetka Golf Club Tuesday, things didn't look good for Evanston.

Elise Hilbrant had reduced herself to tears after 9 holes.

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Gemma Sheehan had one word to describe her score --- "terrible."

But the Wildkits weren't finished yet. Both Hilbrant and Sheehan regrouped over the last 9 holes and the two ETHS seniors claimed at-large berths to advance to next Monday's Prospect Sectional tournament.

Hilbrant and Sheehan tied for 22nd place in the overall field with identical scores of 96, same as Loyola Academy's Maggie Devore. That was good enough to keep their seasons alive as at-large qualifiers among the top 10 golfers who didn't compete for the top three teams.

Glenbrook North (316), New Trier (335) and Glenbrook South (338) finished 1-2-3 in the team standings and will send full teams to the sectional. Evanston fell short in its attempt to advance a full team for the second year in a row, settling for 6th place with a team score of 399.

The Illinois High School Association re-drew the qualifying map again this year after sending the Kits to the Lake Park Regional last year, grouping them with North Shore team powers as in the past.

Evanston wasn't able to put its best foot forward as a team. No. 1 golfer Tessa Harvey fell five strokes short of qualifying as individual with a score of 50-52-102 and the Kits also counted a 56-50-106 from junior Vivian Gomberg.

The good news was the resilience shown by both Hilbrant and Sheehan, who totaled scores of 49 and 52, respectively, over the first half of the meet. They bounced back with scores of 47 and 44 on the toughest course they'll play this season.

And since the idea of "survive and advance" in the postseason is still new to the girls program at ETHS that has never produced a state tournament qualifier, it was only natural that neither senior was satisfied with just delivering a qualifying score.

Neither was head coach Karilyn Joyce.

"They played so much better when we played a practice round here," Joyce pointed out. "I was really hoping to get our top three through and I'm extremely sorry for Tessa not making it. She's been playing well all year and she's had our lowest scores, but this is a tough regional and it all comes down to doing it on this day.

"Kudos to Elise and Gemma for making it because they put in a lot of time in the off-season working on their games. As a team we improved our drives 100 percent --- they drove so well off the tee it was crazy, so good for them.

"But our body language wasn't good after the front nine and that's the thing I look at most. They had to change their mindsets, because they get down on themselves so quick and that doesn't work."

Hilbrant delivered pars on the No. 13, No. 15 and No. 16 holes to secure a chance to move on to the sectional.

"I'm happy and I'm proud that I made it to sectional because I really didn't expect it," she said. "I just wish I had a better score.

"I've had much better scores this year. I had a pretty tough front nine --- I was crying --- but I managed to fix my mental attitude on the back nine. That's not usually my strong suit, but it helped me a lot today.

"I didn't use my driver at all on the back nine, and that was hard for me to do on such a long course. But at that point I had to be more strategic. I decided to use my 5-wood because I knew I'd rather be straight and short (off the tee) than long and out of bounds. I've done that a couple of other times this year and it worked today."

Sheehan figured she had shot herself out of contention for a spot at the sectional and actually relaxed more as the competition heated up on the back nine.

"That was probably the worst front nine I've had all season," she said. "It was terrible and I was giving up hope. I started to care less about my score and just have more fun playing --- and I played significantly better."

The senior standout carded a pair of birdies and a par on the last four holes, enough to beat the individual cut by a single shot.

"I did get a little stressed at the end, because I knew I was on the edge of the cut," said Sheehan, who like all high school golfers these days can watch the scoreboard constantly on a phone app during competition. "I have shot better this year --- I was actually a little worse than today in the practice round --- but I'm happy with my score considering this course is so hard.

"The greens were super confusing to me and I think I ended up in every bunker on the course."