By Don Eskins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Glendale Lady Falcons carded a 331 on Monday at the Horton Smith Golf Course in Springfield to claim this year’s Ozark Conference Championship. The victory made it three straight conference titles in a row for the Falcons.
Glendale finished 28 strokes ahead of the runner-up Rolla Lady Bulldogs who registered a 359. Grabbing third place in this year’s tournament were the Kickapoo Lady Chiefs who came in at 368.
Glendale’s Susannah Blackwell, top medalist at this year’s event, led the way for the Falcons carding a tournament low 78. Close behind Blackwell were teammates Jadaea Asa, who registered a 79, and Catherine Rhoads, who recorded an 83. Also playing well for the Falcons were McKenna Baron (91) and Zoe Linn (93).
Tops on the Rolla scorecard were Abbey and Emma Hobbs, both with 83’s, while Kickapoo’s Kaitlyn Pile finished out in front for the Lady Chiefs with a 94.
Although posting the tournament’s low score of the day Blackwell said she did encounter a few struggles.
“I had a rough start on the front side today. Part of that rough start was a string of seven bogeys,” she said. “But I knew my team needed me to keep going so I turned on the jets on the backside to finish out at 78.”
Winning this year’s conference title was especially important to Glendale’s seniors.
“For the past two years we’ve been Ozark Conference Champions,” said Blackwell. “We have three seniors on our team this year so we wanted to make sure that we got it again.”
Especially proud of the Glendale effort was Falcon head coach Ron Yocum.
“I felt like all our kids performed well today. Susannah is such a hard worker and deserves all the accolades she gets,” said Yocum. “But I was especially pleased with the efforts we got from Jadaea and Catherine, our underclassmen, and our other two seniors McKenna and Zoe were outstanding. As their coach, I couldn’t be prouder.”
Also proud of the Falcon effort was Blackwell.
“I’m really proud of what our team has accomplished this year,” said the Falcon senior. “We lost two key seniors to graduation last year but Jadaea and Catherine have really stepped up for us this season to fill their spots. They’re driven to succeed and that drive has helped to keep us all working hard.”
And the hard work has paid off for the Lady Falcons.
“We go out and try to get a little better each day,” said Yocum. “But day in and day out our girls do a good job of playing golf. Just like they did today to claim this year’s Ozark Conference Championship.”
Next up for the Falcons will be the Class 3 District 3 tournament on Monday at Horton Smith Golf Course.
Scorecards:
Rolla: 1. Emma Hobbs- 83/ 2. Abby Hobbs- 83/ 3. Callie Harmon- 93/ 4. Lydia Meusch- 100/ 5. Mikah Allison- 101.
Kickapoo: 1. Riley Vines- 89/ 2. Olivia Doran-Pellham- 90/ 3. Kaitlyn Pile- 94/ 4. Emma Prost- 95/ 5. Elizabeth Finke- 101.
Ozark Conference Results
Team Standings
1. Glendale – 331
2. Rolla – 359
3. Kickapoo – 368
4. Camdenton – 396
5. Lebanon – 404
6. Hillcrest – 452
Medalists
1. Susannah Blackwell – 78 – Glendale
2. Jadaea Asa – 79 Glendale
3-T. Catherine Rhoads – 83 Glendale
3-T. Abby Hobbs – 83 Rolla
3-T. Emma Hobbs – 83 Rolla
6-T. Riley Vines – 89 – Kickapoo
6-T. Abigail Lipford – 89 – West Plains
8. Olivia Doran-Pellham – 90 – Kickapoo
9. McKenna Baron – 91 – Glendale
10. Sydney Righter – 92 – Camdenton
11-T. Zoe Linn – 93 – Glendale
11-T. Callie Harmon – 93 – Rolla
13. Kaitlyn Pile – 94 – Kickapoo
14-T. Emma Prost – 95 – Kickapoo
14-T. Jalyn Allen – 95 – Lebanon
All Ozark Conference Golf Team- Top ten golfers, including ties.
Honorable Mention All Ozark Conference Team- Eleven through fifteen, including ties.
