After graduating four key seniors from the Redmond High girls’ golf team last year, a lot of buzz was generated early this spring concerning what coach Jake Crowley calls “The Streak.”

With a huge crop of juniors and sophomores that had been lurking in the shadows of former players like Kara Zitzman (4A Kingco champion, 8th at state in 2009) now needing to rise to the occasion, combined with an increased talent level across the league, Redmond would be hard-pressed to keep their amazing seven-season 4A Kingco match winning streak alive.

The Mustangs stretched “The Streak” to 74 straight Tuesday afternoon after Redmond edged Eastlake in a tiebreaker at Sahalee Country Club, an extremely difficult course that will host the 2010 U.S. Senior Open this July.

Although she didn’t know it at the time, Makayla Walker holed a four-footer on the last hole to salvage a tie at 235 strokes, the first tie since Crowley took over as a coach four seasons ago.

“(It was) a tense match on fast and diabolical greens, on a course that none of our kids have played except on Tiger Woods Golf (the video game),” Crowley recalled.

According to Kingco rules, a golf tiebreaker is broken by awarding the team with the fewest “pickups,” or holes where players go over the stroke limit of double par.

The Wolves had two such holes, and the Mustangs none, extending their streak to 74 matches. For the Mustangs, Kelly Kennewick medaled with a 41, and Stephanie Schoeppal, playing in the No. 5 spot, carded a 44 to finish in a tie for third.

Eastlake’s Megan Wotherspoon led her team with a 43, and teammate Emmie Schwartz fired a 44.

“Eastlake’s top kids played well and knew what they were doing,” Crowley admitted. “We were just kinda scrambling all day.”

RUNNING THE ‘GAUNTLET’

If there was ever a stretch of golf that threatened to derail the Mustangs’ streak, the team’s last three matches, termed the “gauntlet” by Crowley, was it.

First, the Mustangs dispatched Skyline at their home course, the Plateau Club, 225-268, on Tuesday, April 20. Then last Thursday, the Mustangs had to play undefeated Newport on its home turf, the Golf Club at Newcastle, a match that both teams knew would come down to the wire.

And did it ever, as the Mustangs edged the Knights by a single stroke, 214-215.

“It was a great match,” Crowley said. “It was a beautiful day, tons of parents and students out there. Newport really built it up and did a great job of hosting, it had a ‘tournament’ feel to it.”

Although Newport had four of the six low rounds of the day, the Mustangs got the performance of a lifetime from sophomore Keira O’Hearn, who fired a one-under-par 35, the first under-par round of her life, and of the Mustangs’ 2010 season.

It couldn’t have come at a better time.

“It really is an incredible score,” said Crowley on O’Hearn’s effort. “She’s only played the course twice in her life… but she stayed in the moment. She was fist-pumping, it was great to see her in control of her emotions.”

Although O’Hearn admitted that her ball-striking wasn’t as crisp as usual, she was able to make up strokes with an incredible performance on the greens.

“As long as you can keep sinking putts, it’s a great feeling because you get that confidence,” said O’Hearn, a sophomore. “A lot of my shots really weren’t that good, but I had 11 putts (for nine holes).”

Was O’Hearn thinking about finishing up under par coming down the stretch?

“I knew I was shooting really well, but I wasn’t thinking about (the score),” she said. “That was definitely key, because if I overanalyze it, I play bad.”

POSTSEASON PREPARATION

With two matches left against inexperienced Interlake and Liberty, the Mustangs will use those matches as a tune-up before the critical district tournament on May 11-12, held annually at Snohomish Golf Course.

“We want to keep our champion status at districts,” said junior team co-captain Kelly Kennewick. “As far as state goes, just get as many girls through to the second round as we can and hope for the best.”

Crowley added that he’d like to get three kids to make the cut at state and send five athletes total to Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, but a slight rules change will make that a little bit more difficult in a stacked district.

“It’s going to be really tough, because there’s one less spot (12 allocations to state this year from 13 in 2009),” he said. “We want to make sure whoever makes it can make the cut line, and then we’ll take our chances from there.”

To view and/or purchase pictures of the Mustangs playing their annual “Par 3 Championship” at Willows Run’s Heron Links, please visit photographer Matt Campbell’s Web site at http://www.sportspixs.com