Silvestri leads Roseburg golfers at state with 3rd place finish
CRESWELL — The freshman campaign for Lana Silvestri has been one for the ages at Roseburg High School and she capped off the season with a historic performance at the OSAA Class 6A state golf championships on Tuesday at Emerald Valley Golf Club.
Silvestri drained four consecutive birdies to close out her second round in the tournament with an 18-hole score of 68 (4 under), which propelled her to a third place finish in the individual standings.
“I’m glad I had a good finish. It was kind of rough there for a couple of holes, but I had a good finish,” Silvestri said after shooting even par (144) for the 36-hole tournament.
It was the best round of her caree. Roseburg coach Devin Caylor said her second round is the lowest 18-hole score for a Roseburg girls golfer at the state championships.
“It feels awesome and I’m really glad I got to do it at state,” Silvestri said.
The 14-year-old freshman became just the third Roseburg girl to finish top three at the state tournament. Christa Wicks won back-to-back state titles in 1982 and ’83. Tandi Jordan finished second in 1985.
Silvestri’s scores were low, but her success didn’t come easy.
Silvestri got to 2-under through her first seven holes during Round 1 on Monday and was at the top of the leaderboard. She was smacked around by the course after the turn and finished the first day at 4-over par and four strokes behind the leaders.
Day 2 of the tournament got off to another rousing start as Silvestri sank a pair of birdies to shoot 2-under at the turn. She got to 3-under with a birdie on hole No. 12, but that’s where trouble struck.
Silvestri had two shots clip tree limbs on hole No. 13 and finished with a bogey. That was followed by a double-bogey on No. 14 after Silvestri’s tee shot found a water hazard.
Silvestri surprisingly found her composure and nailed multiple long putts down the stretch to finish with seven birdies total for the final round.
“I really just tried to keep myself calm and not let the bad shots get to me. So, I just kept hitting shots and birdies were just coming out of them,” Silvestri said.
“I think it just shows the growth she’s had from the season,” Caylor said. “She handled the adversity, especially coming off of (Monday’s) round that maybe didn’t end the way she wanted to.”
Caylor added that Silvestri’s potential on the course is obvious. “As a freshman, shooting a 68 on the second day of state, it just shows who knows what’s going to happen when she starts getting these things clicking on all cylinders. We can really start seeing some deep numbers and can see what happens in the next couple of years.”
Roseburg senior Apollonia Heap finished 56th at the state championships. Her first-round score of 91 was the best round of her season.
“I think it was just a really good way to finish out my senior year and golf in general,” Heap said. “It was super exciting and I was just glad that one of my last days was also one of my best rounds.”
Sophomore Melinee Udom from Westview claimed the individual title with a total score of 139 (-5). Lakeridge freshman Hannah Wendorf shot 141 (-3) to finish second.
Lake Oswego took the team title with a combined score of 625, two strokes ahead of Sunset.
Roseburg senior Zach Williams improved by six strokes on Day 2 at the Class 6A boys golf state tournament to finish 71st in the individual standings. He was 11-over par in his second round and finished with a two-day score of 172 (+28) at the OGA Golf Course in Woodburn.
Drew Woolworth from Lake Oswego took the individual title with a total score of 133 (-6). The Lakers also claimed the Class 6A boys team title.
Class 6A OSAA golf state championships
Girls
TEAM SCORES — Lake Oswego, 625; Sunset, 627; Jesuit, 641; Mountainside, 682; West Linn, 696; Cleveland, 712; Westview, 725; Sheldon, 739; Grants Pass, 749; Clackamas, 754; McMinnville, 765; Sprague, 779; Tualatin, 795; West Salem, 831.
INDIVIDUAL SCORES (Top 5) — Melinee Udom, Westview, 139 (72, 67); Hannah Wendorf, Lakeridge, 141 (73, 68); Lana Silvestri, Roseburg, 144 (76, 68); Hailey Lim, Lake Oswego, 147 (74, 73); Jessi Tantog, Clackamas, 148 (74, 74).
Boys
TEAM SCORES — Lake Oswego, 609; Westview, 612; Central Catholic, 616; Lakeridge, 618; Tigard, 619; Jesuit, 620; Grants Pass, 627; Sherwood, 628; Mountainside, 628; Glencoe, 629; Sheldon, 642; Cleveland, 644; South Medford, 665; South Salem, 686.
INDIVIDUAL SCORES (Top 5) — Drew Woolworth, Lake Oswego, 133 (67, 66); Jennings Oelke, Tigard, 141 (71, 70); Alex Yang, Westview, 145 (74, 71); Cade McVicker, West Linn, 146 (74, 72); Hudson O’Connell, Sherwood, 146 (78, 68).
