BOYLSTON — Westford Academy star junior Maddie Smith, a two-time girls golf All-Scholastic, has seen sisters Morgan and Molly – both former All-Scholastics for the Grey Ghosts themselves – take home a lot of trophies over the years.
The youngest of the three added to her own section of the trophy case Wednesday morning.
By shooting a 2-over 74 in perfect conditions in the MIAA North/Central/West girls sectional championships at The Haven Country Club, Smith won her first sectional individual title after finishing fifth as a freshman and tying for 10th as a sophomore.
Greens proved tough, especially toward the end of a one-stroke finish against Concord-Carlisle’s Erika Redmond (3-over 75), but Smith was able to putt mostly well and deliver against a talented group.
“It feels pretty good, but I kind of went into today just trying to get through to next week, play the best round of golf I can,” Smith said. “I went out and had some fun, enjoyed myself and I ended up winning – which is good. … This was a great golf course to go out and play. It’s a good opportunity to really test your golf game. This beautiful course has pretty hard greens, I think the greens were definitely a challenge, so it was good.”
While it comes out of love, competition is fierce between the three Smith sisters – which extends far beyond the golf course.
Smith gets ammunition in her corner after Morgan Smith most recently took the same sectional title in 2022, and Molly Smith took it in 2023.
“To bring a couple (trophies) home myself is pretty enjoyable, this one definitely helps with that,” she said. “They’ve done great things and I’m pretty proud of them. … We’re pretty good. We try to keep our competitiveness on the golf course, so once we’re done, we’re back to best friends.”
The top 25 percent of individual golfers advanced to the state championships next week – meaning the top 19.
Lincoln-Sudbury’s Champa Visetsin finished third (4-over 76), Concord-Carlisle’s Sophie Redmond took fourth (5-over 77) and Westfield’s Lauren Connor (6-over 78) rounded out the top-five.
Smith battled with Erika Redmond all day, playing in the same group alongside Lenox eighth-grader Mia Freeman (13-over 85), who also made the cut to advance.
“This is a great event,” Smith said. “You see all the people that, some I play against in the fall, some they play in their spring seasons and you see a good amount of them throughout the summer. A lot of them are my good friends.”
Two more of the top-19 came out of Wellesley, powering the Raiders to secure their fourth straight North/Central/West sectional team title with a plus-70 combined score. Wachusett was runner-up (plus-85), and Nashoba (plus-111) came in third to each qualify for the state championships.
“There is (emotion with four straight),” said Wellesley head coach Ken Bateman. “However, I would love nothing more than to have the girls play to their fullest potential and get over that next hurdle. It would be great. They’ve been so close over the last few years. I know they want it badly. They just haven’t been lucky enough to get that.”
Seniors Alika Lavu (14-over 86) and Denise Pan (14-over 86) led the charge for the Raiders, shooting in line with a typical quality performance to build some promise for the state championships.
Freshman Jenna Saini and sophomore Ruby Savarese each shot 21-over 93 to round out the scoring in the first-place finish.
“They play the best they can, and that’s all I can ask for,” Bateman said.
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