Typically, it is not easy to be the defending champion in sports.  All of the other teams in the competition want nothing more than to be the team that dethrones the champion, making the task of repeating that much more difficult.

In that sense, it was not a typical day for The Hill girls’ golf team during the 2019 PAISAA Championship on Monday, May 21.  Led by the duo of Marina Mendez ’19 and Jessica Shao ’20, Hill finished 21-shots clear of runner-up Academy of Notre Dame to win the PAISAA tournament for the second consecutive season.

The PAISAA Tournament originally was scheduled for Monday, May 13 but needed to be postponed one week due to heavy rain and the resulting poor course conditions.  With no additional competitions scheduled for the week, it was fair to wonder if the one-week layoff from match conditions would impact Hill’s players.

It did not.  Mendez and Shao both fired a 41 to finish one shot behind medalist Kara Kniezewski of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.  The team’s low players throughout the season, Mendez and Shao consistently stepped up for Hill when the stakes were highest, as evidenced by Monday’s performance in the PAISAA Tournament.  Elle Lagor ’21 and Gia Seravalli ’21 carded scores of 53 and 54, respectively, to round out Hill’s team score of 189.  Co-captain Haley Wisniewski ’19 also competed for Hill, shooting a 55 in her final round representing The Hill.

Hill finished the season with an overall record of 6-2.