CROOKED RIVER RANCH — She knew she was coming in as the favorite, and she felt the pressure to perform in Monday’s Intermountain Conference girls golf championships at Crook River Ranch Golf Course.

But by the early stages of the back nine holes, Redmond’s Payton Richardson knew she had the individual title in the bag.

“For it to finally come true, it is fun and feels really great,” Richardson said. “I definitely felt the pressure that I needed to win this. I knew that at the end of the day, I knew that I had the bag and that I am going to state.”

By winning the IMC title, Richardson clinched a spot in the Class 5A state championships at Emerald Valley Golf & Resort in Creswell May 19-20. Joining Richardson at state will be the Summit team, which clinched the IMC team title on Monday, and Bend High senior Taylor Wirth, who was the highest-placing non-Summit individual after Richardson.

Richardson won the title by five strokes after shooting an 82 (10-over par) through the course of the 18 holes. She shot a 40 through the first nine holes, where she birdied the third and sixth holes, then shot a 42 on the back nine and birdied the 12th hole.

The junior did not just win the IMC title on Monday, but throughout the course of the season. This year a new format was brought to the links, as prior tournaments played into who would be the league champion and who would qualify for state. Richardson won three of the five IMC tournaments and never finished lower than third in the other two tournaments.

Richardson essentially led wire-to-wire on Monday. After her birdie on the 12th hole, her lead grew to 12 strokes. And for the final six holes, she was able to cruise to a comfortable victory.

“Pretty much throughout the entire first nine holes I was feeling it,” Richardson said. “I knew that I could do it. I had my teammates and coach out there supporting me.”

Summit won with 358 total strokes, followed by Ridgeview (410), Bend (412), Mountain View (433) and Caldera (444). All four of the Storm golfers finished in the top five to win the tournament and sweep the IMC field throughout the season, winning all six IMC events.

For Summit, senior Mac McAlister (87) finished second, freshman Sophi Hasselblad (89) placed third, junior Makenna Kemp (90) took fourth and senior Clare Crawley (92) tied with Wirth for fifth.

The Storm saved their best performance as a team for Monday. Summit’s score of 358 was its lowest point total all season.

“It has kind of been this way all year,” said Summit girls golf coach Jon Corbett. “Our four have always seemed to finish in the top 10. Lately they have been finishing in the top five or six, which has been awesome for our team scores. They have just continued to get better. It is nice to see us getting better every tournament.”

Ridgeview, Bend High and Mountain View will still have a chance to qualify for state as teams at next Monday’s regional tournament at Indian Creek Golf Course in Hood River. They will compete against teams from the Northwest Oregon Conference, and the top two teams and top four individuals not on the qualifying teams will advance to state.