Tigers 5th at Galena

JOPLIN -- Fort Scott High School's varsity golf team finished fifth at Galena's tournament, held here Thursday.

The Tigers shot 237 over nine holes. Joplin won the team title with a 190. This was just a day after the Tigers did not fare well in an 18-hole tourney at Girard.

"The great thing about these girls is that they really want to score better every tournament they participate in," Fort Scott head coach Karen Curran said. " It really bothered them to have played poorly at Girard. They certainly redeemed themselves.

"The goal is to always have forward progress as they learn the game, but there are days that 'golf happens.' Some days it happens to be good, some days it happens to be bad. They all have great attitudes and I couldn't be more proud of the success they're having and very much look forward to see how we progress in the last half of the season."

Kacie Brown finished 12th for the Tigers with a score of 52. Riley Wunderly was 17th at 58. Haley Kruse also had a top-20 finish with her 61. Ashleigh Marquardt shot 66 for the Tigers and Karley Stark finished at 71. The winning score was 39 by Joplin's Chelsea Damer.

"Kacie and Riley both shot right around their average," Curran noted. "Kruse, Marquardt, and Stark played their best rounds ever."

The Tigers will go to Fredonia Thursday. Play there will begin at 3:30 p.m.

TEAM SCORES

1. Joplin (J) 180 (Damer 39, Johnson 44, Mehalic 47, Kersey 50), 2. Caney Valley (CV) 209 (Chaffin 48, Ward 50, Roper 54, Rolls 57), 3. Columbus (CL) 213 (Newell 49, Schoech 51, Wary 51, Robison 62),

4. Seneca, Mo. (S) 231 (Crawford 45, Francis 61, Esposito 62, Montano 63), 5. Fort Scott 237 (Brown 52, Wunderly 58, Kruse 61, Marquardt 66), 6. Girard 241 (James 52, Gordon 55, Milburn 62, Dugan 75),

7. Galena (GA) 269 (Thompson 50, Gowens 65, Gull 72, Jarboe 78).

MEDALISTS

1. Chelsea Damer, J, 39; 2. Lauren Johnson, J, 44; 3. Bryanna Crawford, S, 45; 4. Lauren Mehalic, J, 47; 5. Paige Chaffin, CV, 48;

6. Ashley Newell, CL, 49; 7. Marnie Kersey, J, 50; 8. Tiffani Ward, CV, 50; 9. Kyndra Thompson, GA, 50; 10. Kasey Schoech, CL, 51.