Eagles battle wind, course

CHENEY -- Uniontown's golf squad had to battle high winds and a tough, unfamiliar course here Monday at the Kansas Class 3-2-1A State Golf Tournament here.

"The wind was a big factor for our girls with gusts up to 35 MPH at times on a pretty wide-open Cherry Oaks Golf Course," Uniontown head coach Justin Tourtillott said. "I look back to Kaylyn Crystal's second hole of the day. She had a one-foot putt to finish the hole. After she pulled her ball marker and placed the ball to putt, a gust of wind pushed the ball about six feet from the hole and she had to putt again from that point.

"The really good girls struggled with the wind a little and I felt like the young girls without experience in those conditions really struggled to keep the ball in the fairway."

The Eagles had four players here with Megan Smith as the highest finisher. She shot 61 on the front nine and 64 on the back to finish with a total of 125, which put her in 66th place.

Senior Draven George had Uniontown's next-best score, 67-77--143.

"She didn't have her best outing, but her goal since her freshman year has been to make it to the State tournament and she was able to accomplish that her senior year," Tourtillott said. "So I was very happy for her."

Laryn Thompson finished at 77-77--154 for Uniontown and Crystal shot 75-86--154.

"I won't blame nerves or inexperience; we just didn't showcase our best golf like we had hoped," Tourtillott said. "Watching the girls navigate a tough course and struggle is tough. But I was very pleased with how they dealt with the adversity and never gave up. Each girl did have some nice golf shots and good holes we just had to many mistakes on the other holes to make up for them."

Caney Valley successfully defended its team title, shooting 372. Hays Thomas More Prep was second at 390 and Hoisington followed at 392. While Uniontown did have four girls here, they qualified individually and were not allowed to compete as a team.

Karee Dinkel of Thomas More Prep won the individual crown with her 42-42--85. Paige Price of Caney Valley followed at 47-40--87 with Winnie Shaw of Wichita Independent was third at 47-42--89. Defending champion Reagan Boone of Eureka finished fifth at 49-42--91.