The future is bright for Cathedral High School girls golf.

Glimpses of that future were seen in 2021, and Ryan Brammer – in his first season as the Irish’s girls golf coach – said the vision will only get brighter.

The Irish fielded their largest program in recent memory in 2021, with 25 girls on various levels of teams – and with the Irish varsity winning the City Title with a young, improving lineup that Brammer said should set a positive tone moving forward.

The Irish for the season went 45-33 in 18-hole tournament play and 10-5 in nine-hole tournaments, with the junior varsity finishing 11-4 in nine-hole play.

“We had a lot of success,” Brammer said.

The Irish finished fourth in the Section 15 tournament at Maple Creek Golf Club on September 20 with a team score of 418. The top three teams – North Central (364), Heritage Christian (365) and Park Tudor (408) – advanced to the sectional round.

Sophomore Tillie Browning led Cathedral with a score of 94 at the sectional, with junior Allison Haug scoring 103, sophomore Jacquie Piper scoring 110, senior Olivia Schilder scoring 111 and sophomore Millie Whitlock scoring 123.

“We had a tough weather day,” Brammer said. “Everybody had to sort of deal with the conditions. North Central and Heritage Christian were sort of the cream of the crop. We were playing for third place. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out that day.

“You’ve got to have some luck and some bounces go your way. It just didn’t come together.”

Brammer said a high point of the season came the week before the sectional tournament when the Irish won the City Title, 349-350, ahead of runner-up Heritage Christian. Browning, Schilder and Piper all posted season-low scores and were named to the All-City team.

“We put on our best display of golf that day,” Brammer said. “We put together an awesome team effort. That was really a spark this team needed. They had been working week after week after week, so it was really nice to see the team get rewarded with some hardware that day.

“That was huge.”

Haug improved dramatically late in the season and posted personal bests at the city and again at the sectional, with Whitlock playing the fifth position much of the season. Freshman Amelia Buhner also improved as the season continued and made the postseason roster.

Schilder was named to the Indiana High School Golf Coaches Association Academic All-State team.

The Irish not only fielded a competitive varsity and junior varsity team in 2021, they also fielded a skill-building developmental team.

“The numbers are back up and now we have a competitive culture that can compete and move through the jayvee ranks,” Brammer said. “Some have varsity aspirations. We’re looking to get better in the offseason with what we can do to get better, especially with indoor golf when we can do that.

“We’re going to take advantage of everything we can do. You have to put in the time when it’s cold. That’s the time we can learn more about our individual games and that’s going to get this team ready for next season. We’re excited.”

And Brammer said the foundation built during the 2021 season should benefit the Irish in the immediate and long-term future – and that the key for the Irish now is how the young team approaches the time between now and the 2022 season.

“We put in a big emphasis on putting in the time, putting in the practice and being more responsible with practice,” he said. “That means being responsible individually for how you practice. As a team, we do a lot of things together, but it’s what you do when you’re away when you’re not with your teammates and coaching staff: What are you doing to actually get better?

“We’ve got a culture now that kind of has that road map. We’re looking forward to seeing it in action next year – winning the sectional, moving on to regional and getting a chance at the state championship hopefully.”