The 2015-16 American Family Insurance ALL-USA Girls Golf Teams were selected based on performance and level of competition primarily at the high school level. Junior golf success was a secondary consideration, and those who did not compete regularly for their high school were not considered.
MORE:
ALL-USA Girls Golf: First Team
ALL-USA Girls Golf: Second Team
ALL-USA Girls Golf Player of the Year: Alyaa Abdulghany, Corona del Mar (Newport Beach, Calif.)
RELATED: ALL-USA Boys Golf Teams
Mark Bender (left) of Bellarmine Prep is the ALL-USA Girls Golf Coach of the Year (Photo: Bellarmine Athletic Department)
COACH OF THE YEAR:
Name: Mark Bender
School: Bellarmine Prep (Tacoma, Wash.)
In his second stint as the head coach of the Lions, Bender has turned his squad into an unstoppable juggernaut. He led Bellarmine Prep to the 2003 state championship before stepping away from the program for four years. He returned in 2008, and in 2010 won the first of what are now seven consecutive Class 4A championships.
This year’s triumph was a testament to the Lions’ supreme depth. The team’s best finisher, junior Clair Hill, finished ninth, but all five of her teammates placed in the top 28. With 135 team points, Bellarmine secured a comfortable 43.5-point margin of victory.
It was the first time in the past five years that the Lions haven’t boasted the individual medalist, but for the fifth year in a row the team had all six members finish in the top 40.
“It’s kind of surreal, to be honest,” Bender told The News Tribune. “You don’t anticipate these things happening. You kind of have good feelings about what you got to work with, you know where you are at when you get started with them, but it’s kind of crazy.”
The team’s seven straight state titles are a new Washington record for consecutive girls’ golf titles.