For River Hill’s dynamic duo of Benjamin Siriboury and Helen Yeung, it was a familiar scene following the final round of the state championship golf tournament Wednesday afternoon.
They each received their 3A/4A individual championship medals and posed for countless photographs next to the University of Maryland golf course putting green, soaking in the moment after defending the crowns they each won for the first time a year ago as sophomores.
Only this time around was even better — they also got to celebrate as a team.
Led by Siriboury and Yeung, River Hill captured the golf program’s first team state championship with a two-day total of 576. It’s the second-lowest team score in state history and was 28 shots better than second-place finishers Marriotts Ridge and Sherwood (604).
Siriboury broke his own state record with his two-day total of 132 (10-under par) to hold off Sherwood’s Bryan Kim (134) by two shots, while Yeung was close behind with her total of 136 (6-under par) to win the girls championship by 13 strokes.
For as impressive as they each played, though, what seemed to matter most to each of them afterward was breaking through as a group. Mark Berg (149, eighth place) and Justin Choi (159, tie for 25th) more than pulled their weight to round out the team’s scorers and help the Hawks get over the hump after falling four shots short of a championship a year ago.
“I think that winning as a team is right up there with my best accomplishments ever in golf. It just feels so good to be able to do this together,” Yeung said. “Winning individually is great, but there’s something even more special about doing it as a team. We all have the same hopes, the same dreams and winning this tournament for the school was right at the top of the list.”
River Hill coach Matt Graves said the championship was a “dream come true” and an accomplishment several years in the making.
“These kids have been building toward this since they were playing in the junior programs at Hobbits [Glen] and I think last year showed us that we could compete with anyone,” Graves said. “So, this year, it was just a matter of getting everyone to play well at the same time and each one of them delivered. It was phenomenal.”
River Hill is the first Howard County golf program to win a 3A/4A team championship. Marriotts Ridge won seven straight 1A/2A state titles between 2012 and 2018, while Glenelg won a 1A/2A championship in 2006.
As it turned out, River Hill was the only new face to bring home a championship this year.
In the 1A/2A team competition, Poolesville defended its title with a score of 635 to edge South Carroll (638) by three strokes. Then in the 1A/2A individual competitions, North East’s Noah Wallace and Poolesville’s Olivia Cong repeated as well.
Wallace fired a final-round 67 for a two-day total of 140, putting him six shots ahead of Brunswick’s Hank Adams (146). Cong was equally impressive with her 141 total that was five shots clear of second-place finisher Megan Kirkpatrick of Glenelg.
3A/4A Boys
Siriboury entered the day with a three-stroke lead following a record-setting opening round score of 64 (7-under). By the time he walked off the green following his seventh hole on Wednesday, that lead had grown to five.
Starting his day on the back nine, it was an eagle on the par 5 13th hole and a birdie on the par 5 16th that jumpstarted his round.
“Just like Monday, when I made eagle with that shot from off the green, the eagle today really gave me confidence in my game,” Siriboury said. “I felt like I was able to hit the shots I needed to.”
But even with Siriboury surging early, Kim kept the pressure on. The Duke University commit, who is currently ranked ninth nationally in the Rolex AJGA rankings, played his front nine in 2-under par to take himself to 6-under overall for the tournament.
Then he kept surging on the back nine, pulling all the way back to within a shot of the lead following a 20-foot birdie putt on his 16th hole of the day.
“I knew I couldn’t really do much about how Ben was playing, and he was putting on a great show this week, so I focused on one shot at a time and trying to make as many birdies as I could,” Kim said. “It worked for the most part, I got myself back in it there and felt like I had a chance.”
Siriboury said he knows Kim well from previous tournaments and anticipated him making a run.
“I came in expecting him to make a few long putts and to stick some shots really close, so it was definitely not a surprise that he played so well,” Siriboury said. “But as much as you try to ignore it, sometimes it’s impossible not to get a little nervous as he keeps getting closer. So I really just tried to remain calm and not make any mistakes.”
And, sure enough, Siriboury never wavered. He made six par putts between 5-7 feet over his final 11 holes and didn’t make a single bogey on the day.
He held strong and forced Kim to be perfect, which he was until the second-to-last hole.
After hitting his tee shot into the par 3 inside 20 feet, Kim made an aggressive run at the birdie putt and ended up blowing it 7-feet past. He went on to miss two more putts after that before holing out, leading to a double bogey and creating what turned out to be an insurmountable deficit with just one hole remaining.
“I really wanted to make that [birdie] putt because I knew the situation that I was in and I guess it got to me. I lost my focus for a split second, got too aggressive with it, and it cost me,” Kim said. “Overall, though, it was a great year for me and the entire team. I feel really good about where my game is at.”
Siriboury closed his round with a par, beating his score from last year (138) by six shots.
Behind the top two, Centennial’s Dustin Stocksdale finished alone in third place with a two-day score of 140 (2-under). He closed the tournament Wednesday with a 69, making four birdies and two bogeys.
This is the first time in Maryland state tournament history that four boys players — including Wallace in 1A/2A — have finished with totals of 140 or better.
3A/4A Girls
While Siriboury had to sweat it out until the end, Yeung played most of her final round on cruise control.
The Hawks’ junior entered the day with a five-shot lead following an opening-round 68 and had stretched her lead to 10 shots by the end of her front nine — which featured nine straight pars.
She did not make a single bogey over the course of the tournament.
“For me it was all about trying to be consistent and avoid mistakes, which I think I did a great job with both days. No bogeys is definitely awesome,” Yeung said. “Then on the back nine today, I was able to get a lot of my wedges close to the pins and make a few birdies to finish strong.”
Yeung made birdies on the 13th, 15th and 17th holes on her way to posting her second straight round of 68.
Her total of 136 is the second-lowest two-day score in girls Maryland state tournament history, two shots shy of the record (134) set by Atholton’s Bryana Nguyen in 2013.
Behind Yeung, Marriotts Ridge sophomore Lila Becker finished alone in second with a two-day total of 149 (77-72). She made a birdie on her final hole Wednesday to finish one stroke ahead of third-place finisher Julia Hua of Northwest.
“During the in-county matches this year I didn’t play as well as I wanted to, so it was nice to come out in a big tournament like this and play well,” said Becker, who finished eighth at states last year with a 157 total. “I feel like being able to see the hard work pay off, it makes it all worth it. Now I just have to keep putting in the time practicing, so I can be even better next year and be able to make more birdies.”
1A/2A Boys
Wallace came into the final round with a one-stroke lead but there were seven players within two shots of him.
He didn’t let the field hang around for long, however.
The North East junior made birdies on three of his first seven holes to open up a comfortable cushion he never relinquished the rest of the way. He added a couple more birdies on his back nine to win going away.
His total of 140 this fall is five shots better than his winning total from a year ago.
Rounding out the top five individually were Brunswick’s Hank Adams (146), C. Milton Wright’s Jackson Geyer (148), Brunswick’s Luke Adams (149) and Huntingtown’s Cameron Kapiskosky (149).
In the team competition, South Carroll’s second-place finish marks the second time in program history that the Cavaliers have placed second in the state. The team’s four scorers were Michael Valerio (155), Patrick Carl (156), Jack Laur (163) and Joshua Vendemia (164).
1A/2A Girls
For a brief moment Wednesday, there was a tie atop the girls leaderboard.
A bogey by Cong on her first hole, combined with a birdie by Kirkpatrick, left the two deadlocked at even par overall for the tournament.
But Cong quickly regrouped, making up four strokes on Kirkpatrick over the next two holes to separate herself for good. The Poolesville junior ended up playing her final 17 holes in 1-under par to win by five strokes.
Still, it was a strong finish for Kirkpatrick overall — including chipping in for birdie on her final hole — to better her overall score (146) by 12 shots over a year ago.
“Last year I really didn’t play well and then even through this past summer I wasn’t having a great time. My scores just weren’t showing how I know I can play,” Kirkpatrick said. “So this is big for me, finally putting two good scores up and overall playing well.”
La Plata’s Shelby Herbert ended up in third place with a score of 154.
3A/4A TEAM
1. River Hill, 576; T2. Marriotts Ridge, 604; T2. Sherwood, 604; 4. Churchill, 624; 5. Walt Whitman, 644; 6. Crofton, 647; 7. Broadneck, 654; 8. Montgomery Blair, 657; 9. Dulaney, 658; 10. Urbana, 663.
1A/2A TEAM
1. Poolesville, 635; 2. South Carroll, 638; 3. Brunswick, 643; 4. Manchester Valley, 667.
3A/4A BOYS
1. Benjamin Siriboury, River Hill, 132; 2. Bryan Kim, Sherwood, 134; 3. Dustin Stocksdale, Centennial, 140; T4. Sangmin Lee, Marriotts Ridge, 146; T4. Benjamin Chamberlin, Seneca Valley, 146; 6. Owen Newberry, Crofton, 147; 7. Collin Chen, Churchill, 148; 8. Mark Berg, River Hill, 149; 9. Dimitri Townsend, Walter Johnson, 150; T10. Minh Le, Urbana, 151; T10. George Williamson, Marriotts Ridge, 151.
3A/4A GIRLS
1. Helen Yeung, River Hill, 136; 2. Lila Becker, Marriotts Ridge, 149; 3. Julia Hua, Northwest, 150; T4. Alana Alexander-Giles, Marriotts Ridge, 152; T4. Zoe Cusack, Churchill, 152; T4. Leela Kenwood, Churchill, 152; 7. Cameron Freund, Whitman, 153; 8. Grace Oristian, Quince Orchard, 154; T9. Sady Shafie, Damascus, 159; T9. Fannie Sukhumparnich, Walter Johnson, 159.
1A/2A BOYS
1. Noah Wallace, North East, 140; 2. Hank Adams, Brunswick, 146; 3. Jackson Geyer, C. Milton Wright, 148; T4. Luke Adams, Brunswick, 149; T4. Cameron Kapiskosky, Huntingtown, 149; 6. Alex Langford, Fallston, 151; T7. Parker Bopst, Manchester Valley, 152; T7. Adam Green, Hereford, 152; 9. Hank Lewis, Southern-Garrett, 153; T10. Nathan Smith, Queen Anne’s, 155; T10. Michael Valerio, South Carroll, 155.
1A/2A GIRLS
1. Olivia Cong, Poolesville, 141; 2. Megan Kirkpatrick, Glenelg, 146; 3. Shelby Herbert, La Plata, 154; 4. Piper Meredith, Boonsboro, 160; 5. Sam Boger, Stephen Decatur, 162; 6. Kinley Stokes, Poolesville, 166; 7. Alexandra Swam, Brunswick, 172.
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