East Central High School’s Jennifer Judge smiled and looked at the medal she received for her low score of 75 at Clear Creek Golf Course on Tuesday.

Her name will go down in Mississippi High School Activities Association history for winning the first-ever girls state golf championship. Perry Katherine Furr of Wesson came in second and Mary Kaye Byrne of Cathedral finished third among the 22 competitors.

“Overall it went well,” said Judge, who also plays for East Central’s boys team and will participate today for a chance at reaching the state meet. “I wasn’t hitting the ball as well as I have, but my short game was good.”

The scores ranged from Judge’s 3-over par to a 167. Some rounds lasted more than five hours, while other groups waited patiently to begin. But the brainchild of Clear Creek’s assistant pro Kathy Hester was a resounding success and the MHSAA has plans in the works to get the all-girls golf championships back again next year.

“I think it’s just wonderful,” said Hester, who added that many parents and coaches approached her to let her know what a good idea the tournament was.

Hester said the numbers for the first event were low because the championship was sanctioned only months ago and many of the schools were aware of the event only a month ago. Also, division golf meets are going on this week and many girls play on boys teams, causing schedule conflicts.

“Next year, we will have a representative at the district meet in the winter so we can schedule this thing when nothing else is going on,” Hester said.

East Central won the team title with a 161, while Cathedral finished second with a 189. Team scores were figured by taking the top two scores from each team. Some had as many as five golfers, while others had two. Some schools entered only one golfer.

“I am glad to see something like this come about for our girls,” said Our Lady Academy coach Kerri Guichet, whose team from the all-girls Gulf Coast school must play against all-boys teams. “We were excited when we heard about it. We knew it was the first and we wanted to be a part of it.”

St. John, also from the coast, finished third with a 197, followed by OLA with a 203 and Warren Central with a 244.

Vicksburg had one golfer entered, but she withdrew before the competition.