Tigers' season comes to close

COFFEYVILLE -- The season came to a close for Fort Scott High School's golf team here Tuesday as the Tigers were unable to advance either individually or as a team from the Coffeyville Class 4A Regional Tournament.

The tournament was moved back one day due to rain on Monday, but conditions still weren't ideal for most of the teams.

"Really strong sustained winds and literally 'lightning fast' greens didn't help our scored or psyche today," Fort Scott head coach Karen Curran said. "We just weren't able to strong together enough good shots or holes in a row. I still saw a lot of great shots at times by each player but consistency is what has plagued them all season long.

Every player on the top three teams automatically qualified for State. Then the top five individuals who weren't on qualifying teams also advance. The Tigers finished fifth as a team with a four-woman score of 516. Labette County finished on top with 100 fewer strokes followed by Anderson County with a score of 448 and Frontenac at 462.

Fort Scott's best individual score belonged to Emily Martin, who shot 61 on the front nine and 64 on the back for a total of 125. That tied for the sixth-best score among the players on non-qualifying teams with Parsons' Bailey Collins (65-60) and 16th overall. The fifth-best such individual was Chanute's Brittney Palet, who shot 63-55--118.

Next for Fort Scott was Maggie McDonald's 63-64--127, which placed 19th. Camiren Defebaugh tied for 20th with her 67-61--128. Maddie McCoy (61-75) and Katie Brown (68-68) tied for 25th as they each shot 136. And Natalie Carr finished 27th with a score of 67-73--140.

"We didn't play up to our expectations today," Curran said. "I know all the girls played the best they could play, but it just wasn't good enough.

"I always feel like I've failed at my job if we don't have Fort Scott represented at the State tournament as a team or by an individual. Besides teaching them to play the game and to truly enjoy playing golf, that is my ultimate goal. I'm still very proud of each and every one of them and believe the ones we are losing will keep the dust off the clubs and continue playing throughout their lives because they truly get enjoyment out of playing the game of golf."

Coffeyville's Anna Pool, three time Southeast Kansas League champion, won the Regional title with her 43-38--81 and now looks to better her second-place finish in last year's State tourney. Chanute's Abbie Funk finished second with a score of 46-47--93 and Frontenac's Maggie Moody was third at 47-46--93 after losing to Funk in a playoff.

The Class 4A State Tournament will be held at Dub's Dread Golf Club in Kansas City, Kan., Monday.

Team scores

1. Labette County (LC) 416 (E.Gartner 97, White 99, Stevenson 104, Callahan 116), 2. Anderson County (AC) 448 (McCullough 98, Barnes 120, Holloran 108, Akes 122), 3. Frontenac (FR) 462 (Moody 93, Simoncic 113, Casey 126, Johnson 130),

4. Chanute (CH) 489 (Fink 93, Palet 118, Walker 130, Umbarger 148), 5. Fort Scott 516 (Martin 125, McDonald 127, Defebaugh 128, Brown 136), 6. Girard (G) 569 (Sevart 118, Pyle 141, Smith 145, Battitori 165).

Incomplete teams: Columbus, Coffeyville (CF), Parsons.

Individuals

Medalsts

1. Anna Pool, CF, 43-38--81; 2. Abbie Funk, CH, 46-47--93; 3. Maggie Moody, FR, 47-46--93; 4. Erica Gartner, LC, 54-43--97; 5. Samantha McCullough, AC, 45-53--98;

6. Renae White, LC, 59-49--99; 7. Rachel Stevenson, LC, 54-50--104; 8. Sydney Holloran, AC, 58-50--108; 9. Kendall Blaich, CF, 52-56--108; 10. Marissa Simoncic, 58-55--113.

State qualifiers from

non-qualifying teams

Pool, Funk, Blaich, 12 (tie). Morgan Sevart, G, 58-60--118, and Brittney Palet, CH, 63-55--118.