Girard claims titles, Comets lengthen lead in SEK

CHANUTE -- Girard claimed team and individual titles here Monday afternoon while host Chanute lengthened its lead in the Southeast Kansas League girls' golf title race.

This was the second of the SEK designated tournaments although eight non-league schools were represented. In fact, the top three finishers in the tournament were non-league schools.

Fort Scott remained in third place in the SEK but finished just ninth in this tournament with a four-woman, nine-hole total of 245. Girard won it at 192 followed by Caney Valley 201, Fredonia 204 and Chanute as the top SEK school at 211.

"We're in a bit of a funk right now," Fort Scott head coach Karen Curran said. "Not showing the progress that we should at this point in the season. Hopefully, we can get a couple of good days of practice in to fix some things and then get back on track."

Uniontown finished seventh with a 234. Torri Hathaway finished three strokes out of the medals, tying for 14th at 53.

Girard's Timbrelee McNair won the individual title with a 39. Coffeyville's Anna Pool shot 41 and took over the lead in the SEK individual standings, moving up from fifth place. Labette County's Erica Gartner, the leader coming in, was one of those tied for 14th and dropped to fourth in the standings. Pool has shot 90 in the two tournaments followed by Chanute's Danae Decker and Abbe Funk both at 96 and Gartner at 98.

Chanute led Labette County in the SEK by nine strokes coming in. LCHS settled for a team score of 231 and now trails the Blue Comets by 29 strokes, 414 to 443.

Morgan Robertson and Karley Stark both shot 57 for the Tigers. Both moved into the top 10 in SEK standings. Robertson is eighth while Stark is 10th.

"Karley and Morgan are playing pretty consistent golf," Curran said. "They just need to start dropping some strokes to move up in the tournament placings, which will in turn help our overall team score."

For the Tigers, Hayden Shelden shot 65, Laine Parks 66, Natalie Wolf 70 and Ingrid Diaz 70.

For Uniontown, Haven Bradbury finished with a 58 followed by Jordan Mason at 61, Monica Ramsey 62, Anna Oberle 65, and Stephanie Robinson 89.

Fort Scott will play in the Galena Invitational at Joplin Thursday. Uniontown travels to Eureka this afternoon.

JUNIOR VARSITY -- Fort Scott's trip to Galena's junior varsity tournament at Joplin ended abruptly Friday when thunderstorms came into the area.

"Two girls finished and two were on their last hole when the sirens sounded to clear the course," Curran said. "We all loaded up hurriedly and within 10 minutes of leaving, we were in the middle of the storm. Wild drive home to say the least. Sadly, we didn't get to post official scores, because all the girls were playing great. Definitely would have set career lows for each of them."

The Tiger JV plays in Girard today.

1. Girard (GI) 192 (McNair 39, Heatherly 46, Ivey 51, Puckett 56), 2. Caney Valley (CV) 201 (Ward 47, Crowe 49, D.Nelson 51, C.Nelson 54), 3. Fredonia (FR) 204 (Oneal 45, Cox 51, Wilson 52, Sumner 60),

4. Chanute (CH) 211 (Decker 49, Funk 49, Clark 53, Hartman 60), 5. Anderson County (AN) 226 (Rockers 48, Hermreck 53, Maley 55, McCulough 70), 6. Labette County 231 (Gartner 53, White 56, Callahan 57, Riley 65),

7. Uniontown 234 (Hathaway 53, Bradbury 58, Mason 61, Ramsey 62), 8. Parsons 240 (Hudson 43, Carpenter 59, Sheilds 61, Haynes 67), 9. Fort Scott 245 (Stark 57, Robertson 57, Shelden 65, Parks 66),

10. Columbus 267 (Conner 61, Jarrett 66, Roth 66, Clark 74), 11. Yates Center 268 (Wendland 59, Collins 68, Busteed 70, Buchanan 71), 12. Pittsburg 292 (Biggs 65, Henry 70, Deal 76, Otter 81).

Incomplete teams: Coffeyville (CF), Eureka.

1. Timbrelee McNair, GI, 39; 2. Anna Pool, CF, 41; 3. Lindsey Oneal, FR, 45; 4. Carly Heatherly, GI, 46; 5. Tiffani Ward, CV, 47;

6. Bailey Rockers, AN, 48; 7. Abbe Funk, CH, 49; 8. Danae Decker, Ch, 49; 9. Aeveri Crowe, CV, 49; 10. Tori Cox, FR, 51.