Rain no handicap to Caney Valley; Tigers 4th

The rain didn't keep the golfers off the course at Fort Scott Country Club Tuesday afternoon as the Fort Scott Invitational went on as scheduled. It also didn't prove much of a handicap to Caney Valley's golfers as five of the six Bullpups finished in the top 10, giving it the team title easily with a score of 205.

That score would be impressive on a perfect day, much less one like Tuesday was. Karen Curran's young Fort Scott team finished fourth at 243, missing a medal by two strokes. Her team was mostly new to varsity golf and these aren't the conditions a coach would like to see them play their first tournament in a perfect world.

"You have young kids playing varsity for the first time dealing with nerves and the weather and wet hands and they're trying to keep their pace of play up," Curran said. "It's tough on them when they're learning the game and, on top of that, they have to play in the rain."

Pittsburg's Maggie Sloan won the individual title with a 44. Tara Westhoff of Girard followed at 49. Lyndsay Roper of Caney Valley was third, also shooting 49.

Kacie Brown was Fort Scott's top scorer with a 53. Riley Wunderly missed out on a medal by one spot with her 57. Shelby Blackburn tied for 15th with a 59. Karley Stark, Hayley Kruse and Devan Lloyd all shot 74.

"We'd like to see Kacie be in the top 10 in the tournaments she enters this season," Curran said. "I think she hoped to play a little better on her home course. But she's only four strokes off the leaders and I don't think that's too bad at all.

"Riley is just going to keep getting better and better and better. I'd like to see Shelby get under 54 and I think she'll get there. That would really help us out team-wise."

Down the road, one of the three varsity newcomers, Stark, Kruse or Lloyd, will need to bring their score down to help the team, especially as girls' golf is now a league sport.

"We really need to make sure we work hard with them in practice so we can get at least one of them into the 60s," Curran noted. "We'll need someone to round out those top three."

Uniontown shot 271 and finished sixth. Bethany Ericson had the Eagles' best score with a 62, which put her in 18th place. Emily Simpson shot 65, Veronica Harrison 67, Raven Hixon 77, Brooke Murrow 79 and Sabrena McAnulty 92.

Chanute, competing in its first-ever tournament since starting girls' golf this season, finished in third place in team standings at 241, two strokes up on the Tigers. Taylor Gard became the first Blue Comet to earn an individual medal as she shot 50 to finish fourth.

Caney and Girard are expected to be good teams. Columbus is usually better than its fifth-place 245 indicates. And Fredonia wasn't at this tournament but is usually a tough team as well. It looks to be a very competitive season in girls' golf in southeast Kansas.

"This could be the story of every tournament this year," Curran says. "We might just be on the edge of the medals. We're right in the middle, which is where we probably ought to be at this point of the season. Hopefully, we can creep up a little bit at every tournament and sneak up on someone at the end of the year."

The next varsity tournament for both Fort Scott and Uniontown will be Thursday at Girard in the first 18-hole tournament of the season. Weather permitting, play is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

JUNIOR VARSITY -- Uniontown hosted a JV tournament at the Fort Scott Country Club Friday. Girard Gold won the team title with a 265 with Uniontown second at 280 and Fort Scott fourth at 294.

Individually, Madalyn Smith of Girard won the tourney with a 59, winning a tie-breaker with Uniontown's Ericson.

Harrison finished ninth to also earn a medal for Uniontown a she shot a 71. Simpson finished tied for 12th with a 73. Murrow shot 77, Hixon 82 and McAnulty 92.

For the Tigers, Lloyd finished fifth with a score of 65 and Kruse was sixth with a 69. Stark shot 77 for the Tigers while Ashleigh Marquardt finished at 83.

The JV team will play in a tournament in Joplin at 1 p.m. Friday, an event that was just added to the schedule. The tournament, with Galena as host, will take place at Schifferdecker Park.

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Monday's scores

Team scores

1. Caney Valley (CV) 205 (Roper 49, Chaffin 51, Rolls 51, Ward 54), 2. Girard (G) 217 (Westhoff 49, McLeod 51, Viets 58, Evans 59), 3. Chanute (CH) 241 (Gard 50, Decker 63, Woodard 64, Whitworth 64),

4. Fort Scott (FS) 243 (Brown 53, Wunderly 57, Blackburn 59, Lloyd 74), 5. Columbus 245 (Wary 58, Newell 58, Schoech 59, Robison 70), 6. Uniontown 271 (Ericson 62, Simpson 65, Harrison 67, Hixon 77),

7. Pittsburg (P) 276 (Sloan 44, White 75, McKinney 77, Kelley 80), 8. Yates Center 282 (Baker 63, Hartwig 69, German 70, M.Jennings 80), 9. Anderson Couty 285 (K.Holloran 67, Fritz 67, J.Holloran 68, Wolken 83).

Incomplete team: Galena.

Medalists

1. Maggie Sloan, P, 44; 2. Tara Westhoff, G, 49; 3. Lyndsay Roper, CV, 49; 4. Taylor Gard, CH, 50; 5. Hope McLeod, G, 51;

6. Paige Chaffin, CV, 51; 7. McKenzie Rolls, CV, 51; 8. Kacie Brown, FS, 53; 9. Tiffani Ward, CV, 54; 10. Madison Fields, CV, 55.