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Tiger Cubs, Shrum advance to regional
BRAZIL -- Every team wants to peak as it enters tournament season, and it looks as if the Greencastle Tiger Cubs are doing just that. The Tiger Cubs broke the school record for the second consecutive Saturday after shooting a 373 at the Northview Sectional.
The score gave GHS third place, which sends them to Saturday's regional contest at Martinsville. South Putnam was sixth overall with a total of 433, North Putnam followed in seventh with 435 and Cloverdale was ninth with a 460.
The front nine was the difference maker and to be specific, it was the score from Greencastle's No. 4 golfer that put them over the top.
Chelsea Samuels led the Tiger Cubs with an 83, but it was Kay Wood's 108 that make the biggest impact. Wood did something Saturday she had not been able to do all season, according to her head coach.
"Kay had never broke 50 in any round, practice or match, and she shot 45 on the front nine," GHS head coach Brad Kingma said. "Really right there, her front nine was the big difference. Kind of the unexpected scores, so she was really thrilled, so that was great."
Actually the entire team posted a great score on the front nine to get things going.
"We really came out well on that front nine. We shot 174 on the front nine, which was 15 strokes better that we had shot on any front nine at any time during the year," he said.
In fact the team shattered its own school record by 21 strokes on the day.
In addition to Samuels' and Wood's scores, Katie Hedge shot an 89, Diane Wokoun shot a 98 and McKenzie St. Marie carded a 125. Samuels had a rough start, but settled down and posted an impressive two-over par on the front nine.
"Chelsea looked kind of bad right off the bat, kind of like Thursday night (at the County Tournament) with a double on a pretty easy first hole," Kingma said. "Then she came back and parred out on the front nine for a 38, so that was pretty good. We just kind of held on at the end.
"We just got good solid play. No one played bad and we had Chelsea and Kay each playing really good, so we were able to get through," he added.
Also advancing to next week's regional will be Cloverdale sophomore Sydney Shrum. Shrum fired an 89 to lead the Clovers, but her head coach believes she left too many strokes on the course.
"She hung in there," Cloverdale head coach Ken Williams said. "She didn't play her best golf again. She missed too many putts in the coach's opinion and had too many short putts missed, especially on the front nine."
He said he knew if Greencastle advanced, Shrum's chances of making it through to regional were good. Shrum might have had her struggles on Saturday, but she's just glad to be playing for another week.
"I'm really excited. I wish I would have played better, but it worked," Shrum said.
She said she plans to hit the course in Cloverdale all week, but will visit Foxcliff once to get a feel for the course. When asked what she expected her emotions to be like at regional, she said the nerves might be a factor early.
"It's probably going to be like our playoff hole at county," Shrum commented. "I'll probably be that nervous. I'm just excited to get to go. If it turns out good or bad, I'm glad I got there. I have two more years to get to go."
In addition to Shrum's 89, Victoria Boyette shot a 95, Cedar Woodworth a 128 and McKayla Moore came in with a 148.
North Putnam trimmed 10 strokes off its score from last year's sectional and finished with a 435 on the day.
Josie Parent led the Cougars with a 101, with Valerie Scott adding a 105. Ellen Wilborn shot a 108, Meagan Shutter a 121 and Emmy Rees a 127.
Cougar head coach Linda Patrick has her team headed in the right direction and she was excited with the progress she's seen this season.
"I'm very pleased with what they did this year," Patrick said. "We were able to beat four schools this year. We wanted to make sure we weren't at the bottom again. Scores were great -- I think a couple girls were a little disappointed in their scores, but that back nine kills everybody. It's a rough, long back nine."
She also said there were some goals her team achieved and some that were left on the table, but that's OK. She said 2010 has been a great season for the Cougars.
South Putnam struggled on the Forest Park course Saturday. Caitlyn Boyce paced the team with a 102, followed by Kelsey Searles and Robbie Urton with 109. Cierra Perry shot a 113 and Kyndra Boyce shot a 114.
Greencastle knows it is going into the belly of the beast, as Martinsville is notoriously known as one of the strongest regionals in the state. Kingma said the team understands that and hopes the team enjoys the experience.
"They already realize that we're going to the hardest regional in the state. We have two individuals who could shoot really well, who should be going there thinking about advancing as individuals. It will be a good experience for them to be able to play another week," Kingma said.
The Greencastle team and Shrum will compete at the Martinsville Regional Saturday at 10 a.m.
At Brazil
Northview Sectional
Team Scores
1. Terre Haute North 333, 2. Terre Haute South 358, 3. Greencastle 373, 4. Northview 379, 5. South Vermillion 414, 6. South Putnam 433, 7. North Putnam 435, 8. Rockville 432, 9. Cloverdale 460, 10. Owen Valley 449, 11. West Vigo 482
Individual Scores
Medalist -- Welker (WV) 70
Greencastle -- Samuels 83, Hedge 89, Wokoun 98, Wood 108, St. Marie 125
Cloverdale -- Shrum 89, Boyette 95, Woodworth 128, Moore 148
North Putnam -- Parent 101, Scott 105, Wilborn 108, Schutter 121, Rees 127
South Putnam -- C. Boyce 102, Urton 109, Searles 109, Perry 113, K. Boyce 114