There have been some impressive winning streaks in high school sports. De La Salle High School’s (Calif.) infamous 151-game football streak, which began in 1992 and was snapped by Bellevue in 2004, is one of the most well-known.

The Redmond High School girls’ golf team, however, started an impressive run of their own back in 2003.

After their last 4A Kingco loss to Woodinville seven years ago, the Mustangs are showing no signs of slowing down.

Since then, the squad has won 76 consecutive 4A Kingco golf matches, and just one month ago placed fourth at state despite having graduated one of the program’s finest senior classes last year.

For their overachieving performance on the links this year in the midst of an incredibly tough league, the Redmond girls’ golf team has been named the Reporter’s Team of the Year.

RAISING THE BAR

Coming into this year, Redmond head coach Jake Crowley knew that after graduating players like state returners Kara Zitzman, Sydney Conway and Kelly O’Donnell, expectations may not have been quite as high for the 2010 squad.

Crowley, and his players, however, knew better and proceeded to prove the doubters wrong.

“The expectation was that we weren’t going to be as competitive as we have been, but the coaching staff and the kids thought otherwise,” he explained. “They just trusted themselves, each other, and performed up to their abilities, and probably beyond that.”

What separates Redmond from other teams is the exorbitant number of competitive holes on difficult courses the team plays throughout the season, which Crowley notes is easily “in the hundreds.”

But when it comes time to tally up the scorecard, it’s no wonder how the Mustangs improved so quickly in their years through the program.

This year, three of the top five Redmond players shaved at least eight shots off their 18-hole season average from one year ago, including sophomore Keira O’Hearn, who moved from 14th on the team in 2009 to second in 2010.

Stephanie Schoeppal moved from 12th to fourth, Marit Swanson improved from 13th to fifth and made the state tournament for the first time.

“They were really focused and dedicated,” Crowley said. “Kelly Kennewick we expected to do what she did, and Carley Kalina was another gal who jumped from eighth to third or fourth (in scoring). We knew the kind of work ethic the kids had, and how athletic they were. We make them play a lot of holes, so you take your chances that way.”

RUNNING THE GAUNTLET

If there ever was a stretch of teams that threatened to derail the Mustangs’ lengthy winning streak, the trio of mid-season matches that Crowley termed “the gauntlet” was it.

First up was the easiest of the three, a matchup against Skyline at the Plateau Club, that the Mustangs handily won 225-268.

But from that point on, it got a little hairy.

The next match would be against Newport, a team with a number of top-tier players, at their home course, the Golf Club at Newcastle.

Both the Knights and Mustangs shot lights-out, but the hero was O’Hearn, who broke par for the first time in her life, firing a 1-under-par 35.

“They rose to the occasion at Newcastle,” Crowley recalled. “We played really well there, so if we would have lost that match, we would have had our heads held high.”

Added team co-captain Kelly Kennewick, who shot 40, “We had a lot of confidence in our team … but at the same time, (Newport) has just as much depth and were preparing for this match in particular. There were definitely nerves in the air.”

Five days later at Sahalee Country Club, the site of the 2010 U.S. Senior Open this July, the girls had perhaps their toughest test of the year in keeping up with ultra-competitive Eastlake, which holds a genuine advantage at their home course.

Success at Sahalee requires pinpoint shot placement around the course’s tall evergreens, and if players don’t know what part of the fairway to hit off the tee, it could be a long day.

“We were missing a kid, and it was a very, very difficult course that we haven’t seen before,” said Crowley on the Eastlake match, adding that a few his players have only played the course on the Tiger Woods video game.

Somehow, the Mustangs scrambled to a tie at 235, and Kingco rules dictate that the team with the fewest number of “pickups,” or when a player reaches double par and must go on to the next hole, would win.

Eastlake had two such holes and the Mustangs none, which gave Redmond the thrilling tiebreak victory.

“When you play a nine-hole match at Sahalee against Eastlake, who are always real competitive, there’s no guarantees,” Crowley said. “We didn’t play real well that day either, but we did catch a break by doing enough to win the scorecard playoff.”

SHINING AT SUN WILLOWS

The Mustangs, as expected, peaked in the postseason, and accomplished their goal of sending four kids to state.

Quite a feat considering there were only 12 district spots up for grabs.

But once there, the young Mustangs handled the pressure like seasoned veterans, as each player improved their scores during the final round.

Once again, O’Hearn, making her first trip to the scenic Sun Willows course in Pasco, came through.

Breaking her own personal 18-hole record for the second time in two days, she fired a final-round 74 to vault up to eighth place overall and lead the team to a fourth-place finish.

“Shooting a 74 (at state) was indescribable,” O’Hearn said. “I just tried to focus on myself, play my own game and not worry about (the competition).”

For Crowley, it was a fitting end to an incredible season that nobody outside of the team expected.

“We were more excited than when we won the state championship in 2008,” said Crowley on his team after the tournament. “No one thought we could do it all year, and we only had three kids make the cut.

“They were prepared, they deserved to be there, and they improved more than any other team on the second day. They called on all those holes and all those experiences.”

As all of the Mustangs’ state returners enter the program’s summer schedule and keep their games sharp for 2011, it appears that the sky’s the limit for the ‘Stangs as they look to extend “The Streak” even further into the stratosphere.