Marion's Thomas advances to 2A state tournament

CHAMPAIGN -- Marion High School junior Chloe Thomas claimed one of the advancing individual spots from the Champaign Central Sectional and now gets to finish her season at the IHSA Class 2A State Girls Golf Tournament.
Thomas carded an 85 in Monday's sectional tournament at the University of Illinois Orange Course. It was good enough to secure the ninth of 10 spots reserved for individuals not on advancing teams.
One more stroke and Thomas would've had to take part in a playoff for the final spot. That went to Galesburg's Kirsten Osborn, who birdied the second playoff hole to beat out four other golfers who shot 86.
Mattoon's Kira Wolf was the sectional medalist at 2-over 74. Normal U-High's Lexi Onsrud was second at 75. The next best score was 78.
The top three full teams advancing to state were Normal U-High (327), Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin (341) and Edwardsville (345).
Marion was eighth out of 12 teams at 365. The other scores were Ava Lewis and Baylee Kelley at 93 and Sarah Capel shot a 94. Olivia Gray came in at 95 and Kelsey Sinks shot a 106.
The 2A state tournament begins Friday at Hickory Point Golf Club in Decatur.
At the Centralia 1A Sectional, Carterville placed 11th of 12 teams and none of Herrin's individual qualifiers advanced.
Pinckneyville won the sectional at 335, the first title in school history, led by Megan Breslin (78), Graci McDaniel (80), Sarah Breslin (82) and Kally Mayo (95).
Hamilton County's Kylee Vaughan was the medalist at 73. Murphysboro's Hannah Gahagan advanced as an individual at 79. The other advancing teams were Massac County (337) and Alton Marquette (339).
The 1A state tournament will be held at Red Tail Run Golf Course, also in Decatur.