Colts Neck High School golfers (l-r) Caroline Lutkewitte, Allie Weinberg, Emily Mills, Julia Resnikoff and Kate Saeger are all smiles after winning the Monmouth County championship on April 30 at the Jumping Brook Country Club, Neptune. The Colts Neck High School girls golf team learned that every score counts. The Cougars captured the one thing missing from their résumé — a signature tournament championship — when they beat Red Bank Catholic High School on the fifth player tiebreaker to win the 2012 Monmouth County championship.

The tournament was held on April 30 at the Jumping Brook Country Club, Neptune.

With the teams tied at 383, the county championship was decided by the fifth player tiebreaker rule. When the scores were examined they showed that the Cougars’ Kate Saeger shot a lower round than RBC’s fifth player, deciding the title for Colts Neck.

“I’m glad we won as a team,” said the Cougars’ top player, Emily Mills. “We have a very solid team.”

The Cougars were led by Mills, who carded an 83 and finished second to RBC’s Taylor Totland, who won the county championship for the third straight year, with a round of 80.

It was the third straight tournament in which Mills, a sophomore, was second to Totland.

Colts Neck’s Julia Resnikoff shot a solid 91 that put her in fifth place.

Caroline Lutkewitte (101) and Allie Weinberg (108) were the Cougars’ third and fourth scorers.

Howell High School’s Rebecca Gaona finished fourth (88).

Colts Neck and RBC dueled again on May 3 at the Shore Conference Championships and this time it was Mills who filled a gap in her résumé as she won her first major scholastic tournament, edging Totland by one stroke with a two-over-par 74 at the Pine Barrens Golf Club in Jackson.

Last year Mills succumbed to a late rally by Totland. This year Mills again took control early, only to see Totland charging on the back nine.

“I was in the same situation last year,” said Mills, a sophomore. “I’m a better player this year and I was able to finish it out. It was definitely exciting.”

Mills welcomes the competition with Totland.

“I feel we push each other to get lower scores,” she said.

RBC won the conference team title by one stroke, 382-383, over Colts Neck.

Colts Neck coach Doug Phillips said the week was “bittersweet” because the Cougars had targeted the Shore Conference championship this season. Still, with the county title and also beating RBC in a dual meet match, the Cougars have taken two of three from the Caseys.

Gaona was fifth in the conference with a round of 85, and Resnikoff was 15th with a round of 100.

Mills, Resnikoff and Gaona qualified to take part in the Challenger Cup (Monmouth County vs. Ocean County), which will be played May 29 at Bella Vista in Marlboro.

Colts Neck qualified as a team for the NJSIAA Section II tournament that was played May 14 at Bey-Lea in Toms River. The top four teams in Section II will play on May 23 in the NJSIAA state championships at Trump National in Colts Neck.

The Shore Conference event for boys was played on April 30 at Charleston Springs in Millstone Township and Freehold Township finished ahead of Howell in tournament play. The two rivals are vying for the Shore Conference A North Division public schools title.

Christian Brothers Academy, a private school, is on pace to win the overallANorth title.

Freehold Township finished second to CBA in the team standings with a score of 318. The Patriots were led by the Freehold Regional High School District’s low scorer, Jared Goldstein, who carded a 2-over-par 74 on the par-72 layout. Goldstein, a junior, was fifth overall.

Howell was fourth in the team standings with a score of 324, led by Dawson Jones’ 75. Jones, a freshman, was sixth overall. Freehold Township’s Jason Oesterle finished in a tie for 10th place after shooting 77.

CBAswept the first four places and won the championship by 30 strokes with a team score of 288.

Other finishers were Colts Neck’s John Sodano and Howell’s Rich Jakubowski, who tied for 17th after shooting 81, and Freehold Township’s Doug Anderson, who tied for 23rd after shooting 83. The boys’ state sectional tournament was played on May 14 at the Linwood Country Club, Linwood.

The top two teams and the top five individuals will advance to the May 21 state championships (where the group and Tournament of Champions winners are determined) at the Hopewell Valley Golf Course in Ewing.

Howell (12-3) and Freehold Township (6-3) qualified for the state sectional field. Teams had to have won 60 percent of their dual meet matches as of May 4 in order to qualify.