Roslyn girls golf's Lara Cohen wins Nassau County title
Lara Cohen of Roslyn won the Nassau girls golf individual championship on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at Bethpage State Park Golf Course in Farmingdale. Credit: Kelvin Loarca
Roslyn’s Lara Cohen has always been in the mix since she was in seventh grade. Cohen patiently waited and worked. The sophomore then broke through on Tuesday.
Cohen shot 1-over-par 143 over two days to win her first Nassau County individual championship across the Bethpage Yellow and Green courses.
“It’s so surreal. I can’t even believe that I won,” Cohen said. “I’m just so thankful for my teammates, my parents, coach Dwyer, and I’m happy I came out on top.”
Cohen was exceptional on the greens. She sank lengthy putts throughout the afternoon and birdied the seventh, 11th and 13th holes on Day 2.
“I had a couple of long birdies and I was really surprised. My putter was on fire,” Cohen said. “Putting is really important. I’ve focused on it and I’m super grateful.”
After finishing seventh in seventh grade, fifth as an eighth grader and 10th last year, Cohen finally broke through as a sophomore. In her fourth appearance at the county championship, she won the title by one stroke as Roslyn coach K.C. Dwyer said her maturity has skyrocketed.
“She has come a long way since seventh grade,” Dwyer said. “Multiple people have come up to me and said she’s matured so much. She worked so hard in the offseason from last year to this year. The growth has been amazing. She’s focused, determined and this was so exciting.”
Manhasset senior Madison Chen finished tied for second at 2-over-par. She was last year’s county champion and a two-time winner of this event. Jericho seventh grader Taerin Lee also tied for second.
Lee and fellow seventh grader Jackie Wayne helped Jericho finish second in the team championship with 818 strokes.
“I’m excited for this entire team because we’re very young,” Jericho coach Steve Bromberg said. “To finish runner-up to a juggernaut like Great Neck says a lot about this group. We have two seventh graders who are amazing and going to states, so I’m only hopeful for the years to come.”
For a seventh straight time, Great Neck brought home the team championship, this one with a total of 808 strokes.
“It’s hard to process. I’ve had two seniors in Caylin Wong and Lia Huang at the top of my lineup since they were in seventh grade,” Great Neck coach Matt Corrigan said. “They’re six-time county team champions. It's a true testament to their leadership at the top of the lineup and just having two phenomenal players there.”
Along with Cohen, Chen, Lee, Wayne, Wong and Huang, Lauren Nam and Evelyn Chou of Herricks qualified for states, along with Ava Estrella of Friends Academy.
