St. Joseph wins 1A State Golf Championship title

OGDEN — The St. Joseph Catholic High School golf team won the first 1A State Golf Championship title in the school’s history May 16, at Roosevelt Golf Course.

"During the state match, I asked them to play with a positive attitude, play one shot a time, and never give up," said Lynn Mulhall, St. Joseph High School golf coach. "That was a simple strategy and it kept them going. In golf if you have one bad hole, it is easy to give up."

Last year at the awards banquet, Mulhall boldly said his players were good enough that they would be the team to beat in 2007. He planted the seed that gave them the confidence they needed to believe in themselves and they proved him right.

"We had 13 players on the team, and 11 of them were able to compete in matches throughout the season," said Mulhall. "Of the 13, there were four females. We had eight players go to each match. At the end of the season, six players qualified for regional and state golf matches. We had one female player, Danielle Jensen, who qualified to play in the state match. Unfortunately the girls have to play against the boys, which is kind of intimidating.

"We had three All State players including, Aiden Sullivan, a freshman; Eli Kenny, a senior; and Oliver Delcarlo, a sophomore. Sullivan also qualified for the Hidden Valley Invitational Golf Tournament and is eligible to earn scholarship monies. Delcarlo is a two-time All State honoree and was the Region 17 medalist, winning the region tournament as an individual. The 1A schools compete in the spring, whereas 2A through 5A compete in the fall.

Mulhall said what impressed him most about his team was they are all busy with other activities at the same time as practicing their golf skills. Because they come from a small school, they also participate in debate, drama, soccer, tennis, and they succeed academically. Most of the team members take advance placement classes and maintain high grade point averages.

The St. Joseph golf team’s home course is El Monte Golf Course located at the mouth of Ogden Canyon.