Ironwood Ridge girls win the State Preview at Aguila

October 18, 2021 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Ironwood Ridge Photo

Two-time defending state champion Ironwood Ridge won the State Preview at Aguila held Monday at the Aguila Golf Course in Laveen Village. The Nighthawks beat Cactus Shadows 300 to 309 and the Xavier and Liberty girls came in third with an identical score of 312.

The Nighthawks beat Cactus Shadows to win the Division II state title in 2019 and 2020 and Xavier won the D-I championship last year over Pinnacle. The Pioneers came in fifth place Monday with 320.

The Nighthawks are 39-0 this year including wins at the One-Off Invitational, The Roar Classic and the State Preview.

“The girls are ready to go for state,” head coach Doug Kautz said. “They are playing amazing golf right now. Any one of them can shoot under on any given day.”

Individually, Liberty senior Mattie Frick shot a 5-under-par 67 to get past Ironwood Ridge junior Zoe Newell (73) and Desert Edge junior Eva Heinz (73). Frick won the D-I individual championship last year.

The D-II state championship for girls is slated for Oct. 25-26 at the Omni Tucson National and D-I will play the following week from Nov. 1-2. Xavier is the highest ranked team in D-I and Ironwood Ridge is the highest ranked team regardless of classification.