All spring long, Liverpool girls golfers Mia and Nataly Avotins set the standard among individual performers, both in the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division and across Central New York.
And that fact was reinforced during Wednesday’s Section III championship tournament at Barkers Brook in Oriskany Falls, where the Avotins sisters earned the top two individual finishes.
They weren’t the only local standouts, though. Two Cicero-North Syracuse golfers, Amy Krohl and Abby Ainsworth, joined the Avotins in earning place at this weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
Everyone was forced to scramble a bit when heavy rains the previous Sunday moved the sectional tournament from Kanon Valley, its home the last few years, to Barkers Brook, an unfamiliar layout for most of the field.
This didn’t bother the Avotins, though, as Mia Avotins calmly shot an 80 to earn the individual sectional title, and only Nataly Avotins finished close to her, her 83 finishing second by five strokes.
Meanwhile, Liverpool fought for the sectional large-school team title, and finished at 390, second only to Fayetteville-Manlius, who won for the fourth year in a row by posting 371.
C-NS had a strong third-place showing at 402, led by Krohl, whose steady round of 89 put her alone in sixth place, easily among the top nine to advance to the state tournament.
Ainsworth finished with a 93, tying for eighth place, and while not in the main field for the state tournament, she will serve as a second alternate.
Krohl and the Avotins are joined at the state tournament by F-M’s Bailey Wallace and Lucy Fowler, plus Danielle Caringi (Camden), Lena Jones (Jamesville-DeWitt) and Gabby Papale and Belle Pepe from the combined Utica-Notre Dame-Whitesboro-Oriskany side.
Just before all this, Liverpool beat C-NS’s Blue team 191-196 in a head-to-head match as Mia Avotins shot a 37, but Nataly Avotins’ 42 was topped by Krohl’s 41.
Ainsworth shot a 45 to finish fourth and teammate Jessica Ricciardi had a 50, but the Warriors held on with a 51 from Hanna Dombroski and a 61 from Lindsey Toper. Emma Piper had a 60.
