Tiger golf season ends at Regionals

CHANUTE -- Fort Scott High School's girls golf team will not have any qualifiers for this year's Class 4A State Tournament. The Tigers were unable to battle both the course and the weather here at the Chanute Class 4A Regional Tournament as the team missed out on one of the three qualifying places and the best individual finish missed qualifying by 6 strokes.

"What a horrible day of weather to try and play golf in," Fort Scott head coach Karen Curran said. "Rain for six out of the seven hours on the course. The first hour was rain free. Not looking to make any excuses. The girls played absolutely the best that they could under the given circumstances, but it was terribly difficult to make consistently good swings with wet grips and hands and literally every inch of your body soaked and cold. So proud of how they soldiered on and never quit. Tough to end the season feeling unhappy about how you played when you know you are so much better than your score reflects. "

The Tigers finished fifth out of the six full teams in the Regional with a four-woman, 18-hole score of 548. Southeast Kansas League champion Labette County won the team title with a score of 424. Anderson County followed at 443 and Girard was third at 453.

Every member of the top three teams goes on to Class 4A State at Pittsburg Monday. The five best golfers who are on non-qualifying teams also advance, although in this Regional, there was a tie for the fifth spot. Parsons' Marina Shields and Chanute's Abby Walker, who tied for 16th place, will both advance after each finished at 124.

Fort Scott's best score was posted by Hayden Shelden, who shot 65 on both the front and back nines for a total of 130, which finished 22nd. Morgan Robertson followed with a 67-64--131, which tied with two others. Maggie McDonald shot 68-64--132 as she finished 26th. Camiren Defebaugh shot 78-77--155 and Katie Brown (70-93) and Emily Martin (73-90) each shot 163.

Defending Class 4A State champion Timbrelee McNair of Girard was the individual champion at 40-41--81. Coffeyville's Anna Pool, a sophomore who has won the last two SEK titles, finished second at 41-44--85. Erica Gartner of Labette County was third at 43-48--91.

Team scores

Q--State qualifier.

1. Labette County--Q (LC) 424 (Garnter 91, White 99, Callahan 116, Stevenson 118), 2. Anderson County--Q (AC) 443 (Rockers 100, McCullough 112, Holloran 114, Barnes 117), 3. Girard--Q (G) 453 (McNair 81, Heatherly 107, Johnson 121, Battitori 144),

4. Chanute (CH) 475 (Funk 94, Walker 124, Hastings 126, Palet 131), 5. Fort Scott 548 (Shelden 130, Robertson 131, McDonald 132, Defebaugh 155), 5. Frontenac (FR) 555 (Moody 99, Simonic 126, Johnson 153, Ha.Casey 177).

Incomplete teams: Coffeyville (CF), Columbus, Parsons (P).

Medalists

1. Timbrelee McNair, G, 40-41--81; 2. Anna Pool, CF, 41-44--85; 3. Erica Gartner, LC, 43-48--91; 4. Abbe Funk, CH, 49-45--94; 5. Renae White, LC, 49-50--99;

6. Maggie Moody, FR, 54-46--99; 7. Bailey Rockers, AC, 48-42--100; 8. Carly Heatherly, G, 52-55--107; 9. Samantha McCullough, AC, 56-56--112; 10. Sydney Holloran, AC, 55-59--114.

Individual qualifiers from non-qualifying teams

2. Pool; 4. Funk; 6. Moody; 15. Kendal Blaich, CF, 60-62--122; 16 (tie). Marina Shields, P, 64-60--124; and Abby Walker, CH, 60-64--124.