Totems earn Class 2A state golf title

Total team effort propels Sammamish to a golf championship.

By Shaun Scott • May 31, 2018 8:30 am
Photo courtesy of Wesley Newton The Sammammish Totems girls golf team (pictured) earned the Class 2A girls golf state championship. The Totems, who compiled 143 total team points, dominated the entire tournament. Bellingham finished in second place with 97.5 points.
Photo courtesy of Wesley Newton The Sammammish Totems girls golf team (pictured) earned the Class 2A girls golf state championship. The Totems, who compiled 143 total team points, dominated the entire tournament. Bellingham finished in second place with 97.5 points.

Awaiting the final results of the Class 2A state golf tournament was a nerve racking time for Sammamish Totems girls golf head coach Annette LaBissoniere.

LaBissoniere figured the final scores would be close but was optimistic as she awaited the results announcement.

“We were just so excited and were sitting on pins and needles. I obviously thought it was going to be very close with Bellingham because they had the second and fifth place golfers,” LaBissoniere said.

It ended up being a dominating triumph for Sammamish. Samammish tallied 143 total team points earning the Class 2A state championship on May 23 at Horn Rapids Golf Course in Richland. Bellingham finished in second place with a distant 97.5 team points.

“It wasn’t even close at all. We beat them by almost 50 points,” LaBissoniere said.

Totems golfers placing individually included Mehr Luthra (eighth place), Mikaela Ikeda (11th place), Sierra Hooper (12th place), Sue Chung (13th place) and Lily Bai (17th place).

“Just a couple of strokes separated all of them. We really didn’t have anybody stand out, they all played so amazing,” LaBissoniere explained.

Watching her team attain a state championship was a special experience for LaBissoniere. LaBissoniere, who is in her second season as the Totems girls head coach, had previously never coached a team that won the state title in her coaching career.

“When I was at Eisenhower High School in Yakima we always had one or two golfers that made it to state but never as a full team like this,” LaBissoniere said. “It was absolutely amazing and a total team effort. We stuck to our game plan.”