The second time was a charm for this Washington State University freshman.

Atop the leaderboard at the 22nd Washington State Women’s Amateur Championship, Alivia Brown had plenty of fellow Gig Harbor natives to keep her company.

Brown fired back-to-back-to-back rounds of 1-under par 71 to take the state amateur title, held June 23-25 at Sequim’s The Cedars at Dungeness, cruising to an eight-shot win over second-place finisher Cherokee Kim, also of Gig Harbor.

Last year, Brown — a two-time state 4A champ while playing for Bellarmine Prep — finished runner-up to Jordan Ferreira in 2014 but wasn’t challenged much beyond the first day of competition.

“Both years I was having a lot of fun playing and that’s what it’s all about,” Brown said. “This year I was feeling good about my game and this whole week my putting was good, and I think that’s really what made the difference.”

Playing alongside the amateurs, Ginny Burkey of Eugene, Ore., won her second title in the Washington State Senior Women’s Amateur title while Mary Ryan of Renton won the Washington State Super Senior Women’s Amateur, edging out Sequim’s own Witta Priester by two shots.

The three Washington State Golf Association championships were held concurrently at The Cedars. For complete results, see www.thewsga.org.

Brown recently finished her freshman year playing for WSU’s women’s golf team and four of her WSU teammates — Kim, Kristen Rue (fourth place), Rachel Lewis (seventh) and Bree Wanderscheid (11th) — also teed it up in the tourney.

“That was so much fun,” Brown said. “To be here together and to have that kind of support made it really special.”

Brown adds her name to a list of past champions that includes LPGA Tour players Paige Mackenzie and Jimin Kang, among others.

Alex McMenamin, the Sequim High School sophomore prep star who was named Olympic League MVP and earned her second top-10 finish at the state 2A tourney in May, finished 29th overall in the amateur division after rounds of 83, 86 and 90.

Burkey is now a two-time winner after taking the Senior Women’s Amateur in 2011. That year, she was named the WSGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year.

This year she finished with in 236 shots in her three-day tourney, after posting rounds of with 80, 79 and 77 for a four-stroke victory over Katy Wright of Camas.

“I love playing in this championship,” Burkey said. “It great to be here and I had great playing partners every day.”

Tied for the lead at the start of the final round with Katy Wright of Camas, Burkey birdied the par-4 first hole.

“That was a good way to start,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure I didn’t mess up around the greens today or lose focus. I hit the ball better today, which gave me more putting opportunities.”

Judy Reno was Sequim’s top finisher in the senior amateur division, finishing the tourney with rounds of 97, 94 and 95.

Sequim’s own Marine Hirschfeld was 26th after shooting rounds of 96, 101 and 101.

Ryan held off a charging Priester in the final round of the Super Senior Women’s Amateur.

Finishing runner-up last year in the inaugural championship, Ryan took the lead for good this year in the second round, shooting a 78 and holding on.

Sequim’s own Pat Harrop-Schumacher finished third, 11 shots off Ryan’s mark.

“I didn’t play anything special today,” Ryan said. “I just tried to hit every shot as best I could. And I tried to figure out these greens, which are a lot quicker than I’m used to.”

Other Sequim finishers in the super senior division included Kathy Langston (seventh, 265) and Marlene Erickson (10th, 288).

The Washington State Women’s Amateur is the state’s premier amateur championship for women and traditionally draws the region’s best players.

The WSGA is a nonprofit, amateur golf association governed by volunteers and serving more than 68,000 individual members at more than 550 member golf clubs and 270 golf courses throughout Washington and northern Idaho.

See interviews with last week’s division-winning golfers on YouTube, including Aliva Brown (www.youtube.com/watch?v=yph0ZrPH744), Ginny Burkey (www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdRCWv9V9xA) and Mary Ryan (www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruRZ7tdOdGE.

McMenamin gets honor

Sequim High School sophomore Alex McMenamin was named the All-Peninsula Girls Golf MVP for the second straight season by area coaches and the Peninsula Daily News sports staff.

McMenamin earned her first outright Olympic League MVP award this spring after sharing the honor with Port Angeles’ Dana Fox in 2014. She led Sequim to a 7-0 mark and league championship as well and earned her second consecutive top-10 finish at the state 2A tournament in May.