By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Already two weeks into the season, a lot remains to be answered for the Carthage girls golf team before postseason play begins next month.
The Tigers don’t even know what class they’ll be competing in.
“We don’t know what the districts are, we don’t know anything,” head coach Lowell Catron said Monday. “It’s kind of hard to get geared up for that because state will be Class 4 at Cape Girardeau. If we’re Class 3 state’s in Joplin.”
Postseason questions aside, Catron was pleased with his team’s second-place effort in the Carl Junction Invitational Monday at the Briarbrook Golf Course.
The Tigers finished at 388, four strokes back of Pittsburg, Kansas, and saw two players card their best scores ever.
“And we feel pretty good because our number two player is quarantined,” Catron said.
Hailey Bryant led the way with an 83 while placing fourth individually, Shaely Garrison and Caitlin Derryberry posted career bests of 95 and 99, respectively, and Ava Lacey added a 111.
“I was very pleased,” Catron said.
“The cool thing today is all of them having good rounds but they all had things we’ve already even started talking about they need to work on that can improve,” he said. “When they have their best rounds and they see room for improvement it’s a good thing.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE TOURNAMENT
Webb City finished third in the team standings, Joplin was fourth, McDonald County fifth, Seneca sixth, Carl Junction seventh and Nevada eighth.
McDonald County’s Lily Allman led the field with a 75. She birdied three holes on the front nine. Joplin’s Emily Delman finished fifth at 89, Webb City’s Sarah Oathout took sixth at 90, Carthage’s Garrison and Webb City’s Laya McAllister tied for seventh at 95, Webb City’s Sydney French was ninth at 97 and Carthage’s Derryberry placed 10th.
There were 53 golfers in the tournament.
Webb City (410) fended off Joplin (414) and McDonald County (419) to claim third place.
The Cardinals were led by Oathout’s 90; McAllister shot 95, French 97 and Sophia Coulson finished at 128.
“It was definitely a lot better than our tournament last week,” Webb City coach Jackson Boyer said. “The girls worked really hard on chipping and putting the last couple weeks. They’re going to have to continue to improve because I think they know they can score better and they’re hungry. I’ve got a lot of experience on the team so we look for better outings as the season goes on.”
McAllister’s 95 was the best score of her three-year varsity career.
“She’s really hungry to try to get that down to 90 and possibly the high 80’s before the season’s over,” Boyer said. “I think she can do it.”
The Cardinals also recognized Oathout, the team’s lone 12th-grader, on senior day.
“She had a pretty good round,” Boyer said. “Her low round of the year. She made it to state last year and she’s trying to get back to the mid 80’s like she was last year.”
Joplin was led by Delman’s 89. Bella Sotlar shot 104, Lindsey Belnap shot 109 and Sophia Schwartz shot 112.
Following Allman for Mac County was Jokie Stipp (104), Kyla Moore (118) and Anna Meed (122).
Carl Junction was led by Anna Burch’s 114. Nevada’s Katie Pennington led her team with a 114. Seneca’s best score was Kaitlyn Soden’s 103.
Team scores
Pittsburg (Kan.) 384
Carthage 388
Webb City 410
Joplin 414
McDonald County 419
Seneca 465
Carl Junction 484
Nevada 487
Joplin 491
Carl Junction 516
Individual top 20
Lily Allman (McDonald County) 35-40-75
Samantha Maceli (Pittsburg) 39-38-77
Hannah Holloman (Pittsburg) 40-40-80
Hailey Bryant (Carthage) 41-42-83
Emily Delman (Joplin) 47-42-89
Sarah Oathout (Webb City) 46-44-90
Shaely Garrison (Carthage) 45-50-95
Laya McAllister (Webb City) 47-48-95
Sydney French (Webb City) 45-52-97
Caitlin Derryberry (Carthage) 49-50-99
Kaitlyn Soden (Seneca) 52-51-103
Bella Sotlar (Joplin) 52-52-104
Jokie Stipp (McDonald County) 51-53-104
Madeline Wiske (Pittsburg) 50-56-106
Lindsey Belnap (Joplin) 53-56-109
Ava Lacey (Carthage) 52-59-111
Sophia Schwartz (Joplin) 52-60-112
Anna Burch (Carl Junction) 55-59-114
Katie Pennington (Nevada) 54-60-114
Campbell Waggoner (Joplin) 55-60-115
