Defebuagh finishes ninth in SEK
Fort Scott High School senior Camiren Defebaugh finished ninth in the Tigers' home tournament at Woodland Hills Golf Course Thursday, which was good enough to put her in ninth place in the final Southeast Kansas Leagye girls' golf standings.
Coffeyville's Anna Pool won both the tournament, with a score of 38 over nine hiles, and the league championship. She is the first SEK golfer, male or female, to win four league golf titles.
Defebaugh was the only Tiger to play in every varsity tournament. Classmate Maddie McCoy wasn't available because she also plays volleyball and that is her primary sport. The volleyball team played in Osawatomie Thursday.
Defebaugh shot 51 in her home course and won a scorecard playoff with Pittsburg's Jamie VanWyck and Logan Lord. Her ninth-place league finish gives her All-SEK First Team status, which goes to the 10 best golfers over the course of the season.
"I'm really happy for her," Fort Scott head coach Karen Curran said. "She's really worked hard for (All-SEK). At the end of last season, she started planning for this season. She got out and played with her dad and other people in the spring and over the summer. Then when the season started up, she was already in good competition mode.
"She's gotten better every day. She spent a lot of time thinking about the game of golf and I'm glad she's reaping the rewards for that hard work."
Defebaugh and McCoy will be available for the Girard Class 4A Regional Tournament, which begins at 9 a.m. Monday at Crawford Hills Golf Course just west of Girard. McCoy will be able to compete in both sports for the rest of the season as their respective schedules don't have any more conflicts.
While Pool was the individual champion, Pittsburg won the team title followed by Labette County and Chanute. They were the only three teams able to field a full team throughout the season. It's the first SEK girls' title for Pittsburg, breaking a two-year run for LCHS.
Labette County won the tournament championship with its four-woman score of 200 but that wasn't quite enough for the Grizzlies to pass Pittsburg in league standings and win their third straight SEK title. Instead, the Purple Dragons' score of 205 helped them win their first SEK girls' golf championship.
Curran also played her junior varsity golfers and they were scored along with Defebaugh as a complete varsity team, finishing with a four-woman score of 255. Marissa Allen shot 68 for the Tigers, followed by Courtney Williams with a 65, Sara Al-Shawish at 71 and Ashton Williams with a 94.
Uniontown was also present and finished sixth with a team score of 256. Kaylyn Crystal shot 58 to lead the Eagles, which tied for 15th. Megan Smith recorded a 60 for Uniontown, Laryn Thompson a 64 and Draven George a 74.
Next up for both Fort Scott and Uniontown are Regional tournaments on Monday. Girard will host a Class 4A Regional at Crawford Hills Golf Course, with play beginning at 9 a.m. Uniontown will host a Class 3-2-1A Regional at Woodland Hills Golf Course beginning at 10 a.m.
1. Labette County (LC) 200 (Gartner 41, White 49, Brooks 49, Billman 61; 2. Pittsburg (PT) 205 (Lopez 49, VanWyck 51, Lord 51, Bourbina 54); 3. Girard (G) 226 (Brumback 50, Smith 57, Sands 59, Crystal 60);
4. Chanute (CH) 228 (Fink 44, Walker 48, Barkman 68, Umbarger 68); 5. Fort Scott (FS) 255 (Defebaugh 51, C.Williams 65, Allen 68, AlShawish 71); 6. Uniontown 256 (Crystal 58, Smith 60, Thompson 64, George 74).
Incomplete teams: Coffeyv/ille (CF), Yates Center.
1. Anna Pool, CF, 38; 2. Erica Gartner, LC, 41; 3. Abbe Funk, CH, 44; 4. Abby Walker, CH, 48; 5. Renae White, LC, 49;
6. Jessica Brooks, LC, 49; 7. Gracie Lopez, PT, 49; 8. Cierra Brumback, G, 50; 9. Camiren Defebaugh, FS, 51; 10. Jamie VanWyck. PT, 51.