MAKANDA - Sometimes after a big season like the Marion girls golf team had last year, finishing second in the state the next season could be a letdown. But that is not the case for the Lady Wildcats as they beat the eight-team field at the Stone Creek Class AA Challenge to open the season.

"I think we are ready to open the season with all six of my girls shooting well today," Marion coach Mary Thomason said. "This was just a continuation of how well we've been practicing. In our second practice we shot a team record 140 with a 38, 40 and 42. We have our home opener on the 26th against Carbondale and Centralia and will going for that record on that day."

Led by the team of juniors Cassie Rushing and Kaitlyn Lowery, Marion carded a 220 beating the second-place team from Champaign Centennial by 18 strokes.

"Kaitlyn and I did a really good job today," Rushing said. "We helped each other out and followed through really well. We played really well as a team today so I feel good about our season."

The Rushing-Lowery team carded four birdies to go with only two bogeys to lead the field of 23 two-girl teams with a 2-under 70. The Lady Wildcat team of junior Campbell Hunt and senior Melissa Sharpe had the second-best score of 73.

"I could have played better, but Cassie made up for it," Lowery said. "I played a lot of golf over the summer and my intermediate game was working best today. This was a good start for the season."

The Carbondale team of Caroline Kwan and Hannah Bausch finished third with a 75, ahead of the Centennial team of Jenna Dombroski and Madison White (76) and the Marion team of Ashleigh Rushing and Hannah Pool (77).

Rushing and Lowery took home the most hardware, with plaques for the low score on the first nine using the scramble format with a 3-under 33 and for the low score on the second nine using the "best drive" and "best ball" format with a 37.

Hunt and Sharpe took home three second-place plaques for the score overall (73), score in the scramble (35) and score in the "best" format (38). The Centennial Dombroski-White team took home the third-place plaque in the "best" portion with a 38 and their teammates Krista Vedvik and Michelle Lee had the third-best score in the scramble with a 35.

The shot of the day came from Centennial's Lizzy Dombroski in dramatic fashion when she began the tournament at 10 a.m. on No. 7, a 160-yard par 3.

"I couldn't have had a better start," Dombroski said. "On my first shot my drive hit just in front of the green and it bounced and began to roll towards the hole. I watched it continued to roll and was thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, it could go in.' Then when I saw it drop. I was totally lost for words not knowing what to say."

"This was my first hole-in-one. I eagled a hole before, but never even came close to a hole-in-one. The funny thing is I'm normally a short hitter off the tee. But this time it got close enough to have a chance when it began to roll. After it fell I wanted to scream out, but I didn't know if you allowed to scream on a golf course so I just jumped up and kept kind of quiet."

Belleville Althoff finished third with a score of 261 followed by Carbondale (269), Edwardsville (270), Belleville West (272) and Mascoutah (302). Centralia only brought two teams so didn't figure in the team scoring.

Today the Hickory Ridge Class A Challenge will be played at 10 a.m. with the two local teams that finished in the top six at state last year in attendance. No. 5 Okawville led by senior Shaina Rennegarbe - who finished tied for fourth at state last year - and No. 6 Massac County led by senior Dawn Weintjes - who finished tied for 10th last year - lead the Class A field.