Dec. 6—Athlete of the Month: Dover golfer Carys Fennessy
Carys Fennessy set the goal four years ago, knowing only the golfer she looked up to while growing up had ever done it.
The Dover High School senior achieved that goal last month, when she became only the second golfer in NHIAA history to win the girls individual championship four straight times.
Lauren Thibodeau, whom Fennessy considers a mentor, was the first to accomplish the feat, winning the tournament from 2014-2017 while attending Pinkerton Academy.
“It’s been really cool — something that I’ve talked about for awhile,” Fennessy said. “It’s pretty cool to see my banner in the high school gym.”
Fennessy also won her second consecutive New England High School girls golf championship in October.
Her triumphs in both the NHIAA and New England tournaments earned her the November New Hampshire Union Leader Apple Therapy Services/Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center/Express MED Athlete of the Month award from the Union Leader Board of Judges.
Fennessy, the two-time defending New Hampshire Women’s Amateur champion, won the NHIAA girls individual title with an 8-under-par 135 (68-67) over two rounds at Beaver Meadow Golf Course in Concord last month. The first round was held on Oct. 5 and the second on Oct. 19.
Runner-up Mady Savary, a sophomore at Bishop Brady High School, shot a 1-under 142 (72-70).
“The first day I don’t think I played as well as I wanted so I worked over the next two weeks to get that score where it needed to be,” Fennessy said. “I put a lot of time in putting and I think that was a big thing in my final round. My short game was really good and I was able to make a lot of birdies.”
Fennessy, who will play at the College of Charleston in South Carolina next year, logged four birdies in her first round and six in her second.
Fennessy, the August Athlete of the Month last year, said she has learned to focus on putting and her short game in the fall. The Cochecho Country Club member’s long game is not always where she wants it to be due to playing less that season than in the summer.
Beaver Meadow’s back nine has always been “funky” for Fennessy, she said, but she has learned hole Nos. 10-12 are the best chances to make birdies before a challenging three straight hole stretch: 14, 15 and 16.
“The front is pretty straightforward,” Fennessy said. “If you get away with a few bogeys and a few birdies you’re in pretty good shape going into the back. Ten, 11, 12 are pretty good. Thirteen you can get another birdie and then you kind of have to focus a lot in the closing stretch.”
To close out her final high school season, Fennessy won the New England High School girls golf championship with a 1-under 70 at Mohegan Sun Golf Course in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Fennessy recalled that day at the end of October was freezing and incredibly windy, which made the round mentally challenging.
“I started off with a bogey on the first hole and that kind of settled me in a weird way because I had gotten that mistake out of the way,” Fennessy said. “Then I went on to par a bunch of holes and made three birdies in a row in the middle of my round and then I ended with a bogey. It was a really strange day.”
Fennessy did not hit her driver as well as she wanted but figured out her irons on the back nine, where she had her stretch of birdies and took the lead for good.
Lillian Guleserian, a senior at Westwood (Mass.) High School, was the runner-up, finishing two strokes behind Fennessy with a 1-over 72. Gulesarian led Fennessy by two strokes at the turn.
“That was a different sort of day for me,” Fennessy said. “It’s not usually how things play out.”
The high school season is more laid back compared to Fennessy’s summer tournament schedule. She enjoyed that and the team aspect, which is absent in golf outside of high school and college competition.
With a Dover team full of underclassmen this fall, Fennessy always encouraged her teammates and gave tips on how they could improve their game.
“I’d like to see the program continue to have success when I’m gone,” she said. “I just think golf is such a great game and I think everyone should love it as much as I do.”
Other athletes considered for the October award were Mascenic Regional golfer Josiah Hakala, Salem High School football player Kevin Todisco, Hillsboro-Deering High School football player Robert King, Bedford High School cross country runner Mikita Barry, Hopkinton High School boys soccer player Nolan Linstad and Plymouth State University field hockey player Taylor Healey.
Hakala, a senior who is home-schooled but represents Mascenic in NHIAA competition, won his fourth straight NHIAA Division IV boys golf individual championship by shooting a 10-under 134 over two rounds at Beaver Meadow Golf Club in October.
Todisco, a senior running back, rushed for 718 yards and eight touchdowns on 90 carries over a 4-0 NHIAA Division I October campaign for Salem.
King, a junior running back, had 522 rushing yards, 12 touchdowns and a two-point conversion on 31 carries over a 2-1 NHIAA Division IV October run for Hillsboro-Deering.
Barry, a junior, won the NHIAA Division I girls championship, Battle of the Border and Pelham Invitational races in October.
Linstad, a junior forward, recorded 10 goals and two assists as Hopkinton went 6-0-1 over its seven October games, including its 4-0 Division III tournament first-round win over Bishop Brady.
Healey, a graduate student forward from Campton, tallied 11 goals and two assists over a 6-3 October campaign for Division III Plymouth State.
Previous 2024 winners: January, Zach James, Pelham (basketball); February, Anika Scott, Bedford (indoor track); March, Jackson Marshall, Hooksett (basketball); April, Anthony Paolicelli, Henniker (baseball); May, Emma Wheeler, Meredith (heptathlon); June, Elisabeth Kearney, Londonderry (softball); July, Owen Carey, Londonderry (baseball); August, Pat Pelletier, Lebanon (golf); September, Sally Rainey, Lebanon (soccer).
To submit a nomination for future Athlete of the Month consideration, email the Union Leader Sports Department at sports@unionleader.com and enter “Athlete of the Month” in the subject line.
