Trumbull sophomore Grace Codd was the medalist who led the Eagles to the school’s first conference championship at the 2023 FCIAC Girls Golf Tournament, and Greenwich junior Caroline McShea was selected the FCIAC Player of the Year and she had a vital role in helping lead the Cardinals to a state championship.
Those achievements highlighted a successful spring postseason for many girls’ golfers and several teams in the conference.
Codd shot an 80 at Fairchild Wheeler Golf Course in Fairfield on June 1 to lead Trumbull to a five-stroke victory over runner-up Greenwich. The Eagles had a team score of 349, Greenwich had 354, five-time defending champion New Canaan placed third with a 358 and was followed by Staples (421) and Darien (422).
The four lowest scores from each team are accumulated to determine the team aggregate scores. To support Codd’s medalist score of 80, the Eagles also received fine rounds from Maris Branyan (86), Erica Laurentino (87) and Nikki Hall (96) to earn Trumbull its initial FCIAC championship.
Last year Codd shot an 84 to tie Leni Lemcke of Staples for second place as they were both one stroke behind medalist Amanda Vigano of New Canaan, who led the 2022 Rams to their fifth straight conference crown.
Vigano shot an 84 this year and her teammate, Adelaide Tuff, carded an 89 to help New Canaan place third.
McShea fired an 82 to lead this year’s runner-up Cardinals, while Allison Bauer (85), Zarah Hillman (92) and Maddie Driscoll (95) also factored in Greenwich’s team scoring at the FCIAC tournament.
Six days later those same four golfers combined to shoot a 337 to help the Cardinals win the 2023 CIAC Division I Girls Golf Tournament by three strokes over defending champion New Canaan. FCIAC teams swept the top three placings as Trumbull was third with a 357. Amity (366) placed fourth and Hall (372) was fifth.
Glastonbury’s excellent junior Morgan Peterson was medalist with a sizzling 70 at Timberlin Golf Club in Berlin and New Canaan’s Vigano placed second with a 79.
Greenwich, which had an unbeaten 12-0 record during the regular season, displayed its team balance en route to its state championship. Bauer shot an 81 to tie Trumbull’s Codd for third place. Driscoll and Hillman each had an 85 to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place with Wilton’s Saanvi Kakarlapudi. McShea sealed the team title with an 86 in which she finished in a five-way tie for ninth along with New Canaan’s Lauren Livesay and Trumbull’s Maya Louis.
Greenwich’s Charlotte Langhorne, New Canaan’s Lily Mohr, and Fairfield Warde’s Paige McKenna finished in five-way tie for 15th with an 87, New Canaan’s Tuff (88) tied for 20th, and her teammate, Carielle D’Elisa (89), finished in 22nd place as there were 14 golfers from the FCIAC who placed among the top 22 of the total of 79 players at the Division I state tournament.
In addition to McShea being chosen the conference’s Player of the Year, she was joined on the 2023 All-FCIAC Girls Golf First Team by her teammates Langhorne and Bauer, Trumbull’s Lindsay Baker and Codd, Fairfield Warde’s McKenna.
Rachel Pontoriero and Keeva Boyle of Staples, Vigano and Livesay of New Canaan, Greenwich’s Driscoll, and Trumbull’s Laurentino all made All-FCIAC Second Team. The half dozen golfers selected All-FCIAC Third Team include Ellas Christ and Kakarlapudi of Wilton, New Canaan’s D’Elisa, Fairfield Warde’s Norah Anderson, St. Joseph’s Marianna Wegiel, and Ellery Vishno of Staples.