La Salle Repeats as State Champs
For the second straight year, the La Salle Academy Rams are the high school golf state champions.
The Rams finished with a two-round team score of 596 to beat Barrington by ten shots.
“Some great teams played this year. The kids just played great today (Wednesday) and decided they were just going to make some pars and see what we could do. It all came together,” said La Salle head coach Steve White.
La Salle is the first team to win back-to-back state championships since Moses Brown won three in a row from 2014-2016.
La Salle entered the final round trailing Barrington by one shot and even trailed them for the early portion of the final round before taking over on the back side.
“I was talking to the kids half way through on Tuesday and a few of them were not happy with their swings and I just said “grind through.” Joey Earley, he is the captain of the team, said the same thing and the kids did that. I don’t think anybody played quite as well as they wanted to on Tuesday, but they all just did what they had to do to make it to today. Today we kept grinding and it worked out,” White added.
While the team was in grind mode in the first round, junior Connor Paradise came in with a first round 74 to keep the Rams afloat.
“Connor Paradise with a first round 74 is unbelievable,” said Max Jackson.
Paradise carded an 81 in the second round, but the 74 is exactly what La Salle needed.
In the second round, and overall, Jackson and Earley led the Rams in scoring with a pair of 146s (two round scores), and Olivia Williams bounced back from a first round 80 with a second round 72.
“I got carried by my team. They played their hearts out. Joey shot even today, Liv shot I think three-over. It’s so special. These kids took me under their wing my freshman year, the senior captains, so to get a win for them is great,” said Jackson, who was four-over after the first round.
Next season, La Salle will return Jackson and Williams, along with Charlie Melvin and Paradise.
Team Leaderboard
1. La Salle – 596
2. Barrington – 606
3. East Greenwich – 615
4. North Kingstown – 624
5. Moses Brown – 628
6. Prout – 633