By: J. Daniel Pearson
Karolyna Adams rallied from a rough start to shoot a five-over 77 and win the girls individual title at the 2024 Orange Belt Conference Golf Championships on Monday morning at Royal St. Cloud Golf Club.
Adams, playing out of St. Cloud’s number one slot, had four bogeys and two double bogeys — covering the front side in an uncharacteristic seven-over 43. But she caught fire on the turn, recording birdies on 11, 16 and 18 for a one-under 34 and a final score of five-over for the 5,317-yard, Par 72 layout. Adams finished the backside with only one blemish on the card – a bogey on the 130-yard, Par 3, 12th.
“To be honest, I didn’t get off to a great start with three bogeys on the first four holes and then got tripped up with a couple of doubles,” Adams said. “At that point I felt I was letting my teammates down. I settled down, refocused and was able to play to my capabilities on the back with the two-under.”
Adams’ freshman teammate, Abigail Murphy finished second with an 81; while fellow teammate Maddie Burda (sophomore) followed up her second place finish last year with a third place showing and 82.
It was the second OBC individual title for Adams. She won the championship as a freshman before finishing solo third as sophomore – missing a playoff by three shots.
The top four of five scores from each team counted for the team championship. Senior Nadia Burda posted a 93 to give St. Cloud an aggregate team score of 333. Harmony (416) was second and Celebration (471) was third. The team victory for the Lady Bulldogs was their OBC record eighth championship in a row.
The top eight finishers in the tournament earned All-Conference honors. St. Cloud placed five players on the team, including Adams, Murphy, Maddie Burda, Nadia Burda (5th) and Olivia Siegel (6th-94). Harmony garnered the other three spots with Aryana Persaud (4th-92), Melanie Chapardy (7th-98) and Alyssa Kane (8th-99). Celebration’s Layla Link (100) and Julia Barbara (118) rounded out the top 10.
With the regular season coming to an end, District Tournament play commences on Oct. 28. St. Cloud will host the Class 3A, District 6 event as they hope to continue their historic run. Last year, the Lady Bulldogs became the first Osceola County team to reach the state championship for three consecutive years and also had the highest finish in county history with a fourth place team showing.
St. Cloud was placed in a new district and region this year and that will make that road a little tougher. Lake Nona will be heavy favorites to win District 6 with Viera and St. Cloud most likely fighting for second. Should they advance, they would move on to Region 2 Tournament, which features six schools that finished in the top 15 at states last year.
“Being in a tougher district and regional, we are going to have to play better than we did today,” Adams added. “But we have a lot of trust and confidence in each other and as the competition gets tougher, I think we’ll perform better.”
