Tigers take second at Garnett

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

GARNETT -- With host Anderson County and rival Columbus playing in the Anderson County Class 4A Regional Golf Tournament here Monday, Fort Scott High's team went into the tournament thinking there would be four teams vying for the three automatic berths into the State tournament. The thought was that Lenexa St. James Academy might also be a contender.

But despite cool weather and rain that came through at the end, Fort Scott was able to beat Columbus by one stroke for second place. And that may have given a couple of individual players an edge when they had to go against Columbus players in playoffs for individual medals.

"We felt like maybe Anderson County and Columbus would go 1-2," Fort Scott head coach Karen Curran said. "So in our minds, we needed to get at least third. We talked about that for several days leading up to the tournament. The girls knew what they had to do. They just really played great."

Anderson County won the team title and had the winning individual. The Bulldogs shot 415 as a team led by Regional champion Elaine Tastove's 45-43--85. Ashley Miller of Spring Hill was second at 44-46--90.

Kacie Brown shot her career-best score of 95 (44-41) to tie for third with Columbus' Lacie Hale (45-50). Cassie Ogran (52-57) finished in a tie for eighth with Lyndsey Vanatta of Columbus (52-57) after both shot 109.

Also going to State -- which will be held next Monday at Cherry Oaks Golf Course in Cheney -- are Katie Bristley, who finished one stroke away from a medal with her 50-61--111, Dana Ballou, who shot 57-59--116; Shelby Blackburn, 63-62--125; and Morgan Morasch, 72-74--146.

"I am so happy for this group of girls to qualify together," Curran said. "This is such a tight-knit group. They're great friends among each other. They're great supporters of each other. They play for each other.

"On any given day, it can be up in the air who our top four scorers will be. But when one or two girls have a down day, there's always somebody else who had a good day and picked up the slack."

Almost all of the players are only in their second year of golf. Ogran is the exception as she is a third-year player. Curran says that it takes about a year and a half for a novice player to get a feel for the game, so it's just about this time in their careers that they should begin to peak.

In post-season play, sudden-death playoffs are held to break ties rather than the the usual scorecard playoffs. Bristley and Hale went to hole No. 1 to begin their playoff. Hale has won almost all of the tournaments she's played in this season. Ogran and Vanatta, meanwhile, went to No. 4 for their playoff.

"This was after we already knew we'd beaten Columbus for second," Curran said. "We'd already qualified for State as a team and individually. I just told them both they were in a win-win situation. There was nothing to lose because they've already qualified. Nothing bad could have come out of those situations."

Brown pared her playoff hole. She started off with a good drive while Hale was about 25 yards shorter off the tee.

Hale put her third shot on the green but Brown was a bit off. She was still able to chip up to the hole and only needed to make an 18-foot putt for par. Hale allowed her to putt first since the ball was in her line.

"That took all the pressure off Kacie and put it all on Lacie," Curran said. "Because we already knew Kacie was in with a par. Lacie has a 20-foot putt. She just needs to make the hole in two.

"Lacie put it close, to the right by about three feet. But she missed that putt and Kacie won by a stroke."

Ogran teed off on No. 4 with a drive of about 250-yards, putting her about 10 feet from the green behind a sand trap. She chipped on the green, then two-putted and got a par four.

Vanatta needed three shots to get to where Ogran was after her first shot, then shot into the sand. After chipping over the green, she conceded the hole as she had already taken more strokes than Ogran.

"It was a great finish, fantastic for those kids," Curran said. "Most of them don't play another sport so they're not going to experience something like this again at all. There are four seniors going to State in this group. Only Kacie and Shelby will be back next year."

This is the first year Class 4A will be competing on its own, separate from Classes 3-2-1A. Players will begin on the first and 10th holes at 8:30 a.m. Curran said the Tigers will go to Cheney early Sunday morning and play a practice round.

"This was our goal all year," Curran said. "Any team's goal should be, especially once they get to Regionals."

Team Scores

1. Anderson County (AC) 415 (E.Tastove 88, S.Holloran 98, Fakle 112, K.Holloran 117), 2. Fort Scott (FS) 431 (Brown 95, Ogran 109, Bristley 111, Ballout 116), 3. Columbus (C) 432 (Hale 95, Vanatta 109, Stanley 110, Shoech 118),

4. Lenexa St. James Academy (SJ) 460 (Todd 108, Slaver 113, Schmidt 117, Marks 122), 5. Spring Hill (SH) 474 (Miller 90, Fritz 110, Mateer 135, White 139), 6. Carbondale-Santa Fe Trail (SFT) 476 (Colson 105, Anderson 115, Elliott 126, Miller 130),

7. Parsons 630 (Russ 127, Kay 150, Ellis 174, Woods 179).

Incomplete teams: Girard.

Medalists

1. Elaine Tatstove, AC, 45-43--88; 2. Ashley Miller, SH, 44-46--90; 3. Kacie Brown, FS, 44-51--95; 4. Lacie Hale, C, 45-50--95; 5. Sarah Holloran, AC, 47-51--98;

6. Christy Colson, SFT, 48-57--105; 7. Niki Todd, SJ, 56-52--108; 8. Cassie Ogran, FS, 52-57--109; 9. Lyndsey Vanatta, C, 52-57--109; 10 (tie). Grace Fritz, SH, 51-59--110; and Casie Stanley, C, 54-56--110.

Other State qualifiers

Abby Slaver, SJ, 55-58--113.