By Staff

Glendale, Rolla’s Toothaker win at Ozark Conference Golf Tournament

By Shelley Ebbrecht (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

The Glendale girls golf team shot a team-best 330 to take home gold at the Ozark Conference golf tournament Monday at Horton Smith Golf Course in Springfield.

“Our goal at the beginning of the year is to be playing our best at the end of the year,” said Glendale coach Ron Yocum. “It reinforces the work ethic and helps the girls understand that if they put in the time and effort, good things can happen. In such an individual sport, we promote a team atmosphere at Glendale, so they should be very proud.”

Wriley Hiebert, Susannah Blackwell, Halle Jungmann, Olivia Baron and Jadaea Asa all shot 90 or better to give Glendale its second conference championship in three years. All five members also earned first team all-conference honors for their individual performances.

“The course was in really good shape, so I was playing pretty well,” said Hiebert. “I had a couple of bumps in the road, of course, but that’s just how golf works sometimes. Overall I’m pretty proud of myself.”

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE TOURNAMENT

The lowest score of the day went to Rolla’s Marlie Toothaker with a 76—her lowest tournament score yet. She was the anchor of the second place Rolla team with a team score 345. Toothaker said chipping and putting were the keys to her success today.

“I had a really good short game today,” Toothaker said. “Most of the time my short game is okay, but today I really dialed it in and really focused on the practice green then implemented that into how I played and I think that really helped.”

Glendale’s Hiebert came in second with a 77. The top ten individuals received all-conference honors. In addition to Toothaker and Hiebert, the list includes Blackwell, Jungmann, Baron and Asa from Glendale; Kourtney Tucker from Central; Audrey Collier and Hannah Hilker from Rolla; and Katy Finke from Kickapoo.

With just one week remaining before District tournaments begin, Toothaker said her team is right where they need to be.

“The girls are on cloud nine right now and going in to next week we are super happy,” she said. “We still have another tournament, a make-up, but I think this is definitely really good for everyone.”

Likewise, Hiebert said her team will use the momentum from today’s round to carry them into districts and beyond.

“I definitely think that it inspires us to do better at districts or sectionals or so on,” Hiebert said. “It gives us the confidence to think that we could go pretty far in post season with scores like this.”

Five players were named Honorable Mention All-Conference: Kayla Morns and Riley Vines from Kickapoo; Abby Lipford and Taylor Rogers from West Plains; and Abby Hobbs from Rolla.