Sammamish Totems girls golf head coach Annette LaBissoniere was determined not to miss out on seeing her team attain one of its most sought after aspirations this year.

Flashback to the 2017 season: The Sammamish girls golf team won the Class 2A District 1 golf tournament. Unfortunately for LaBissoniere, she wasn’t able to see it. LaBissoniere, who is also the Totems boys golf team’s head coach, happened to be watching the second day of the boys tournament last year (she watched the first day of the girls tournament) and didn’t see the second day of the girls tournament.

This season, LaBissoniere watched the boys tournament on the first day and the girls tournament on the second day. The Totems girls golf team dominated play, earning first place at the Class 2A District I golf tourney with a total of 188.5 team points on May 15 in Snohomish. Liberty finished in second place with a distant 130 team points.

“For one, it was awesome to see it this year because last year I didn’t get to see them win it. I was living it through my (assistant) coaches’ text messages. That was very difficult. So this year, I watched the boys on the first day and the girls on the second day. I figured they really had a good chance to win it and they did. It was amazing,” LaBissoniere said.

Totems’ golfer Mikaela Ikeda earned first place individually compiling a total of 154 strokes at the two-day tournament. It was the second year in a row Ikeda finished at the top of leaderboard. Sammamish golfer Sierra Hopper finished in second place with a total of 155 strokes. Six Totems golfers who competed at districts including McKenna Lamb (seventh place individually), Mehr Luthra (eighth place individually), Lily Bai (13th place individually), Sue Chung (17th place individually), Hopper and Ikeda will compete at the Class 2A state golf tournament. Mara Johnson, who captured 18th place individually, will be an alternate at the state tournament.

The Class 2A golf tournament will take place on May 22-23 at the Horn Rapids Golf Course in Richland. LaBissoniere believes if the majority of the team makes the cut (advancing to the second day of the tournament on May 23) that her squad has a great chance of bringing home a state championship. In 2017, the Totems girls golf squad finished in third place at the Class 2A state tournament.

“Our goal is to win it. We’ve been talking about it all year. I have told them all year long that they have the depth to do it. Our goal is to place higher than we did last year,” LaBissoniere said.