The Strafford Lady Indians shot the lowest combined score of the day at Karen Kjar Memorial Golf Course in Buffalo on Monday to claim the Class 1, District 3 title—a pretty big feat for a program in just its second year.
“We basically just had four girls last year and mixed in a few new ones this year," said Strafford coach Steve Frank. "From the beginning of the year until now, their scores have just kept coming down and they just keep improving.”
Frank said one challenge the team has faced is not having a course in their hometown to practice on. They hit the driving range nearly every day and practice weekly in Marshfield—which will come in handy when the team moves on to sectionals next Monday.
“I hope it’s an advantage for us to play the sectional round in Marshfield,” he said. “They’ll know the course and be familiar with it. Unfortunately in the game of golf, one day you’ll play really well and the next day you can play like you’ve never played before. So I hope being able to play at our home course, they will relax a little bit and all be able to play a decent round.”
PHOTOS: CLASS 1 DISTRICT 3 GOLF
Hayley Frank led the Lady Indians with a team low score of 102. She said she started off slow but pushed on knowing her team was counting on her.
“I started off kind of struggling but we knew the cut was going to be high,” Frank said. “I had to not get down on myself and come back and have a good back nine, which I did. Then everyone kind of pulled their weight which is why we were able to get the win.”
The Strafford team of Hayley Frank, Kayley Frank, Alissa Collette, Kayla Foht and Emily Underwood combined for a team score of 432. Springfield Catholic took a close second at 441 from Kayla Pfitzner, Allison Berke, Ellen Moore, Brooke Newhouse and Cate Schnoebelen.
But it was Hollister’s McKenna Krysl with the best score of the day, coming in with an 11-over 83. She bested the second-place Pfitzner of Catholic by five strokes.
Krysl kicked off her round with a birdie on hole No. 1 to get her day started right then focused on remaining consistent throughout her round.
“My driving was working really well for me today and I had some good putts, too,” Krysl said. “I started out with a birdie so that was very good, and pretty much kept it consistent. The back nine I shot worse, but it was pretty consistent for the most part.”
The top two teams plus the next 15 highest individual scores qualify to play in the sectional round Monday, October 3 in Marshfield. Additionally, Rogersville will also compete as a team at sectionals after all five of its golfers qualified from Monday’s district tournament.
FULL RESULTS INCLUDING INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS
Team Results:
Strafford 432
Springfield Catholic 441
Logan-Rogersville 461
Crocker 601
Buffalo 670
Individual Qualifiers:
McKenna Krysl, Hollister, 83
Janna Mantala, Logan-Rogersville, 99
Olivia Crane, Osage, 104
Annie Strong, Logan-Rogersville 111
Britney Akers, Dixon, 116
Emily Maher, Osage, 118
Hailey Akers, Dixon, 121
Kelsie Shoemaker, Crocker, 123
Angie Adams, Crocker, 124
Emilie Strong, Logan-Rogersville, 125
Kayla Aultman, Logan-Rogersville, 126
Alyssa Jungers, Logan-Rogersville, 129
Alyssa Anthony, Buffalo, 131
Aspen Wilkins, Seymour, 131
Destiny Drake, Osage, 133
