GODFREY – Alton Redbirds girls golf celebrated a Southwestern Conference championship at Clinton Hill golf course in Swansea.

“This has been a long time coming,” Alton coach Carey Cappel said of the conference title.

Since 1981 to be precise. The SWC championship was the first for a Redbirds program started 32 years earlier. Alton shot 351 to beat three-time defending champion Edwardsville by four shots after the Redbirds swept through SWC duals at 7-0.

Cappel, an Alton High grad, is 2013 Telegraph Coach of the Year.

It was the only SWC championship for Alton athletics in 2013-14. And with five of the six players in the postseason lineup expected back for their senior season, the Redbirds are well positioned for a repeat this fall.

Tori Hays repeated as SWC champion, shooting 75 to lead the Redbirds to the conference tourney title. She was joined by juniors Courtney Hachmann, Natalie Long, Samantha Patton and Ashley Orr in a top six that loses only graduated Maddi Heberling.

Cappel has guided the Redbirds through a rapid ascension in the SWC. After producing just one victory in a 1-13 dual record in 2011, Alton went 9-8 in 2012 before breaking through with a 17-1 season and SWC crown in 2013.

“It’s a great feeling to win the conference championship and see the program come full circle the last two years,” Cappel said in October. “The girls got a taste of success last year and they really worked hard this summer. They came together as a unit.”

There remains unfinished business for the Redbirds in 2014. Hopes of a first state tournament berth since 1992 crashed in the Springfield SHG Sectional at Piper Glen. With an Edwardsville team the Redbirds beat by 21 shots in the regional claiming the third and final state berth with a 375, Alton came in at 402 to finish a disappointing eighth in the sectional.

“It was uncharacteristic of us,” Cappel said after the season-ending effort in Springfield. “It just wasn’t meant to be for us today. But it doesn’t diminish anything from what we have accomplished this season. We’ve had a fantastic season. Today just wasn’t our day.”