VALPARAISO | Valparaiso's Harley Dubsky and Chesterton's team rewrote the record books at Saturday's girls golf sectional.
Dubsky took medalist honors with an individual record round of even-par 72, and Times No. 1 Chesterton won its fifth straight sectional title with a team-record 340 at Valparaiso Country Club.
"It's a full team effort," Chesterton coach Dale Hewitt said. "Kelly (Grassel) is obviously great, but we had good scores from 2, 3, and 4 also. Beating Valpo at their home course is very hard."
Chesterton's Kelly Grassel finished one shot back with a 73, which also broke the previous sectional record. LaPorte's Ariana Mendez-Soto shot 84 to finish third.
Host No. 2 Valparaiso took second in the team competition with a total of 344, and No. 8 LaPorte was third at 398. Both schools will advance along with Chesterton to the LaPorte Regional next Saturday at Beechwood.
Dubsky broke Grassel's record of 75, which was set last year. The Valpo sophomore's round featured a 25-foot putt to save par on 16, a birdie on the eighth hole, and an eagle on the par-five sixth.
"I hit a good drive and I was 140 (yards) out," Dubsky said of the eagle. "I hit a little choked-down eight iron into the wind and knocked it to five feet."
Grassel carded 15 pars, two bogeys, and a birdie on the 10th hole. She and Dubsky are the only two girls to ever break 80 at VCC in the sectional tournament.
"We talked about this today: I don't think either of us would be the players that we are if we didn't grow up facing each other directly," Grassel said of the pair. "We have grown so much as players from having to always keep up with the other one."
The Trojans added rounds of 87 from Stephanie Drake, 89 from Marissa Kroeger, and 91 from Nicole Dutz to edge out the Vikings by four shots.
"They're happy, but they're not jumping up and down," Hewitt said of his team. "They know there's more work to do. They're very pleased, but they know themselves there's a couple of strokes each one left out there."
For the Vikings, Jennifer Gough carded a round of 88, while Ellie Gorski shot 89, and Brooke Fullenkamp shot 95.
"I am happy with the way we played," Valparaiso coach Bill Miller said. "Our girls came out and put up scores that were very good for us. There's really nothing else I could ask for with the way we played today."
Individually, Hobart's Allison Smith (94), New Prairie's Lauren O'Malley (98), and Portage's Mackenzie Barcelli (99) advanced to next week's regional.
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