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Eagles fourth in golf sectional; three county players moving on
South Putnam recovered from a subpar performance at the recent Putnam County tournament to finish fourth in the Northview girls’ golf sectional on Saturday.
The Eagles missed advancing to Saturday’s regional by one spot.
Terre Haute South won the team title, while Terre Haute North was second and Northview was third.
The Eagles had a 429 to place fourth, followed by Greencastle at 450 and Cloverdale at 455.
Putnam County players had the best scores among those on non-advancing teams and earned regional trips. Cloverdale junior Sammie Shrum was fifth overall with an 85 to lead the county players, while senior Bailey Shuee of Greencastle was three shots behind at 88 and South Putnam sophomore Drew Steffy had the third-best at-large score with a 97.
North Putnam played in the Crawfordsville Sectional and finished seventh in the team standings with a 483.
South coach Cassie Lehmann was pleased with her team’s performance.
“We had a great day at our Sectional game on Saturday,” she said. “We shot a 429, which is a few more strokes than the last time we played Forest Park, but the team still managed to pull out a fourth-place finish – the best that South Putnam has done in the Sectional in a long time.”
The Eagles also continued a string of defeating their Putnam County rivals.
“We also beat Greencastle and Cloverdale at sectionals, which is always a goal of ours,” she said. “That brings the total to beating Greencastle four of four times we played and Cloverdale three of four times we played this season.”
Lehmann’s team will return all of its members for next season, giving her optimism for even more success.
“As we round out the season, I am incredibly proud of this team and the accomplishments the players have made this last year,” she said. “Without any senior athletes, we are excited to see this continue next season and come back even stronger.”
Cloverdale coach Kyle Walter also saw improvement in his team over the season and also has high hopes for next year.
“Saturday went pretty well as a whole,” he said. “Our team was relatively inexperienced and we had a lot of improvement over the course of the season. All of the girls but one will be back next year so I am excited to see what the future holds.“
Walter thought Shrum had a “really solid” round on Saturday, and is looking forward to seeing how she plays in the regional.
“There were several times on Saturday that she hit poor shots or got in bad situations and rebounded very well, which is probably the most important skill in golf,” he said. “I am really excited to see what Sammie can do at the regional this Saturday, because I think she is just starting to figure out how good she can really be.”
Greencastle coach Steve Paquin thought Shuee played a consistent round in qualifying for the regional.
“She had a 44 on the front and a 44 on the back,” he noted. “This year she qualified as an individual, and last year it was with the team. This was Bailey’s goal all season to qualify for the regional, as she led an inexperienced team through the season.”
Paquin noted that Shuee averaged 46 strokes per nine holes, with her high score being 54 and her low 39. Her two 18-hole scores were 81 and 88.
“Bailey has only been playing competitive golf for about 14 months, so her improvement and ability to play a very difficult game has been an outstanding achievement to her athletic ability and learning the difficult aspects of a hard sport to play,” Paquin said. “Bailey’s score last year in the sectional was 93, so this year is a nice improvement.”
Paquin noted that Ramey was just three shots away from qualifying for the regional.
“Molly improved from last year’s sectional score of 109,” he said. “She has greatly improved from last year in all phases of the game and will be back for two more years.”
Kadence Shaner, a freshman, shot a 113 to place third for the Cubs.
“She shows promise to keep improving and will be a very good player in the future,” he said.
Jennifer Scott and Serena Patch rounded out the scoring for the team with a 149 and 157, respectively.
“Both girls were new to the game and had never played where you had to count every swing and shot for 18 holes,” Paquin said. “They both handled themselves well. Jennifer will be back next year and Serena will graduate in the spring.”
North coach Linda Patrick’s team was unable to repeat its success when it won the county championship last week.
“Weather was perfect with a slight breeze and a little dew at the start,” she noted, “which all created a very good golf day at the Crawfordsville Sectional site.”
Patrick noted the Lady Cougars headed into sectionals with several recent wins on their record and the title of Putnam County champions for 2018.
“Several individuals have been rewarded for their low scores and being medalist for a meet,” Patrick said. “Several players even surprised themselves by earning positions on the All-County golf team. But with these accolades come the reality of keeping your game strong and improving everyday. As with any young team in lots of sports, the big event can be daunting.”
Putting was a problem for the Cougars, as they finished seventh in the team standings.
“Too many three putts created extra stress on their minds,” Patrick noted. “Some double-digit scores which they haven’t seen since the first week of meets started to show up on their scorecards.”
Abby Simmerman carded a 110 with consistent score of a 56 and 54. Nyiah Goff shot a 58 and 60 with a 118 for the day.
Brittany Bonifacius also scored fairly evenly in the 60s by carding a 127.
Patrick thought Haylee Greene showed the most improvement on the day, as she shot a 71 on the front nine and a 57 on the back, carding a 128.
“With team practices working only on specific troubling parts of their golf game, team dialogue speaking largely about keep working hard to the goal and all team players working hard on controlling their emotions, a lot of their hard work got away from them early in the meet,” Patrick said. “The Lady Cougar golf team has eight players and is a very cohesive team. All will be back next year.”
IHSAA girls' golf sectional results
Northview Sectional
Team scores — Terre Haute South 340, Terre Haute North 344, Northview 363, South Putnam 429, Greencastle 450, Cloverdale 455, Parke Heritage 456, South Vermillion 461, West Vigo 491
Top five individuals — Aurora Bonilla (THN) 78, Sophie Boyll (THS) 79, Hallie Baker (THS) 82, Mallory Snyder (THS) 84, Sammie Shrum (C) 85.
Top three advancing individuals from non-advancing teams — Sammie Shrum (C) 85, Bailey Shuee (G) 88, Drew Steffy (SP) 97.
South Putnam players — Drew Steffy 97, Leighla Hazlett 109, Alex Steffy 110, Kate McCammack 113, Kortnee Starks 134.
Greencastle players — Bailey Shuee 88, Molly Ramey 100, Kadence Shaner 113, Jennifer Scott 149, Serena Patch 157.
Cloverdale players — Sammie Shrum 85, Grace Leonard 112, Gayle Baugh 117, Libby Dominguez 141, Michaela Nees 147.
Crawfordsville Sectional
Team scores — Lebanon 389, Southmont 392, Western Boone 392, North Montgomery 442, Crawfordsville 454, Seeger 456, North Putnam 483.
Top four individuals — Katherine Patterson (L) 86, Lilly Williamson (WB) 87, Lexi Rusk (S) 92, Rachel Conyers (WB) 94.
Top three advancing individuals from non-advancing teams — Jaycee Walden (NM) 98, Chloe Maxwell (NM) 98, Kaylee Kerr (S) 107 (won playoff with Bailey Mittal of Crawfordsville).
North Putnam players — Abby Simmerman 110, Brittany Bonifacius 127, Haylee Greene 128, Nyiah Goff 118.