The Park City High School girls’ golf team watched Desert Hills walk away with the UHSAA 3A title for the last three seasons. Unfortunately for the Miners, the streak extended to four on Thursday afternoon.

Despite a fifth-place individual finish from senior Saylor Rabe, Park City fell to the Thunder yet again, but still was able to capture second place at the UHSAA 3A State Tournament at Sleepy Ridge in Orem.

Desert Hills finished with 612 points, while the Miners finished with 588. Dixie finished in third with 563.

“Coming up a little short again,” Head Coach George Murphy said. “It wasn’t as close as past years, but still, we’re that next team in that second spot. … We didn’t put the rounds together that we were able to put together. It stings a little bit.”

Rabe finished the two-day event with 162-stroke total, just seven strokes behind the leaders. Following Rabe for Park City was Mckenzie Schow, who finished with 174 strokes for the two days, while Tai Miller and Grace Donahue tallied 181 and 184 strokes, respectively.

The weather, which included snow at times throughout the two days, was a factor for all the teams.

“It was like winter these last two days,” Murphy said. “It was windy. It was cold.”

The end of the state tournament marks the closing chapter of an era at Park City, as its two seniors, Rabe and Miller, will be graduating. Rabe, who was holding back tears as she walked off of the 18th green on the final day of competition, has been a top 3A golfer in the state since she was a freshman, while Miller has been a pivotal piece to the Miners’ success these last few years.

Murphy isn’t sure if the team would have gotten this far without Rabe or Miller.

“I’ll miss those girls,” Murphy said. “I spent a lot of time with them and practices in cold, cold weather. They’ve been through a lot. To have those girls put Park City on the map with girls’ golf is pretty incredible. … Those two are a big reason why Park City was able to accomplish that.”

Rabe and Miller may be departing, but like they did when former players graduated, there are younger Miners ready to carry the torch. Murphy and the crew were even discussing the next season during the car ride home following Thursday’s round.

“These younger girls like Grace [Donahue] and Mckenzie [Schow] have to step up,” Murphy said. “Sage Roberts and Claire Palmer, too. Hopefully [a second-place finish] inspires them to play more this summer and continue to get better at tournament play over the offseason.”

The Miners were hoping for more than a second-place finish in 2017, but the season was not a lost one. Park City was once again the dominant team in Region 10, winning the title by over 300 strokes.

“It’s a long season, but there were a lot of sweat and tears that go into a season like this,” Murphy said. “It’s a lot of frustration, but they were able to accomplish really good things. It was a team effort, but we just came up short.”