CLASS 6A
AT CAREY PARK GOLF COURSE, HUTCHINSON
MAIZE’S JONES RALLIES LATE IN SUSPENDED ROUND TO LEAD 6A FIELD
Three-time reigning Class 6A state champion Kinslea Jones didn’t spend the bulk of Monday’s opening round sitting atop the leaderboard.
But when play was suspended for the day at Hutchinson’s Carey Park Golf Course, that’s exactly where the Maize senior found herself as she looks to become just the third golfer in state history to win four individual championships.
After making a bogey on her first hole, Jones was steady with 10 straight pars before making birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 – her final two holes before play was stopped for good on Monday because of darkness. Weather moved in midway through the round, delaying competition for more than an hour before it was resumed, but the bulk of the field couldn’t finish.
Jones only completed 13 holes but made her move following the weather delay to grab a one-shot lead over Manhattan’s Maddie Myers, who was even through 13 holes. Myers’ teammate Kat Ball led for much of the day, getting to 2 under after making birdie on her first two holes before slipping back to 1 over through 14 holes thanks to a double bogey on No. 13.
Myers and Ball led Manhattan to an early lead in the team race as the Indians sat 10 over as a team when play was stopped, seven shots ahead of Shawnee Mission East. The Indians also had Kaitlyn Lagabad tied for fifth at 3 over and Lily Bahr tied for 10th at 6 over with Lagabad through 15 holes and Bahr through 16.
East had three in the top nine at the stoppage of play with Ella Slicker sitting fourth at 2 over, Katie Robinett is tied for fifth at 3 over and Faith Grecian is ninth at 5 over. Ingrid Blaketer was at 7 over and Georgia Boyd was at 8 over, keeping the Lancers right with the Indians.
Wichita Southeast's Alina Lam and Garden City's Brooke Savoit were tied for seventh at 4 over with Savoit finishing her round and Lam through 14. Mill Valley's Madeline Martin is tied with Bahr for 10th at 6 over.
Play will resume at 8 a.m. on Tuesday with the completion of the first round. The second round will then begin approximately at 11:15 a.m. with at shotgun start.
CLASS 5A
SALINA MUNICIPAL GOLF COURSE
WIDE-OPEN RACE IN 5A PLAYING OUT
Already expected to be a wide-open tournament, the individual title picture isn’t a whole lot clearer after Day 1 of the Class 5A tourney.
Thirty-two of the 91 golfers in the field did not complete the first round on Monday because of a mid-afternoon weather delay. Round 1 will resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Round 2 is projected to begin at noon with a shotgun start.
Newton’s Naomi Koontz and Andover’s Regan Dusenbery sit at the top of the leaderboard after both shot rounds of 73, 3-over par. The next five golfers on the leaderboard did not complete their first rounds.
Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Ximena Sarinana, who won state last year as a freshman, joins Koontz and Dusenbery at 3-over par after she completed 15 holes, followed by St. James Academy’s Caroline Zacharias (4 over through 16), Hays’ Jaycee Oakely (4 over through 15), Blue Valley Southwest’s Sophia Johnson (4 over through 14) and St. James’ Lynn Powell (6 over through 15).
Emporia’s Elise Eckert (77), Kapaun’s Emma Nguyen (77) and Aquinas’ Katherine Adkins (78) all completed their rounds and currently round out the top 10 with Eckert and Nguyen tied for eighth and Adkins 10th.
The team race is even more murky because of the uncompleted rounds, but four-time reigning champion Kapaun has the lowest score relative to par at 37 over followed by St. James (40 over) and Bishop Carroll (58 over).
The last group from Monday still has four holes to play.
CLASS 4A
AT HESSTON GOLF COURSE
WAMEGO’S DOUGLASS FINISHES STRONG TO POSITION HERSELF FOR THIRD 4A TITLE
Wamego’s Addison Douglass might have carried a little extra motivation into Monday’s first round of the Class 4A state tournament at Hesston Golf Course.
The Red Raider junior took second individually at last week’s regional to McPherson’s Brodie Kuhn, one of her few non-victory performances this season. Furthermore, she made the trip to Hesston without a full team backing her as Wamego failed to qualify as a team for the first time in her career.
That determination showed.
As she’s done in winning individual state championships as a freshman and sophomore, Douglass went out and took control of the tournament on Monday. Starting on No. 10, Douglass opened her round with a birdie, finished it with a birdie and played relatively mistake-free in between, carding a 1-under 70 to take a six-shot lead on Hayden’s Lauren Borjon and Winfield’s Lilli Sympson going into Tuesday’s second round.
Douglass made a pair of bogeys on Nos. 12 and 14, but got right back to even par with a birdie on 15 and then posted par after par after par until making birdie on No. 9 to close her round. The round was interrupted by a 90-minute weather delay, but it did little to slow the momentum Douglass had built.
Simpson spent much of the day right with Douglass, sitting 1 over through 12 holes and just 2 over through 16 holes before a double bogey on her 17
th hole and bogey on her last hole dropped her to 5 over for the day. Borjon, meanwhile, was 3 over through her first 7 holes but steadied herself, offsetting a bogey on No. 12 with a birdie on No 14 before a double bogey on No. 17 put her at 5 over as well.
Borjon’s showing helped defending champion Hayden take a narrow lead on Wellington and McPherson in the team race. The Wildcats finished with a first-day total of 353 and hold a four-shot lead on Wellington and 10-shot edge over McPherson, with whom they tied at last week’s regional tourney.
In addition to Borjon’s 76, Hayden got an 86 from Addyson Baer, an 89 from Izzy Glotzbach and a 102 from Brooke Johnson for its four counting scores. Wellington has two golfers in the top 10 with Claire Ginter in fifth shooting a 79 and Taryn Viramontes in eighth with an 83, and also got a 92 from Presley Cornejo and a 103 from Haley Gulick.
Kuhn, who edged Douglass by a shot for the regional crown, led McPherson with a 78 that has her fourth. Andi Buschbom also is in the top 10 for the Bullpups, tied for ninth with Augusta’s Kaylee Cox and Baldwin’s Peyton Wright after shooting 84s.
Bishop Miege’s Ashley Myers (6
th, 80) and Concordia’s Mya Niehues (7
th, 81) rounded out the individual top 10.
The highlight of the day came courtesy Clay Center’s Emma Frigon, who made a hole in one on No. 13.
CLASS 3-2-1A
AT EMPORIA MUNICIPAL GOLF COUSE
RAWLINS COUNTY’S BOWLES LEADS COLLEGIATE’S ULRICH BY 1
Wichita Collegiate’s Margaret Ulrich may well join the elite club of four-time individual state champions on Tuesday.
But Rawlins County’s Amelia Bowles is going to make her earn it.
Bowles, a senior, fired an even-par 71 on Monday to take a one-shot lead over Ulrich at the midway point of the Class 3-2-1A state tournament. The veteran players separated themselves from the field on the opening day as the lone golfers to break 80 on the course south of Emporia.
Ulrich, like Maize’s Kinslea Jones in Class 6A, is trying to join Columbus’ Jill Simpson and Blue Valley West’s Julia Misemer as the only four-time individual state winners since KSHSAA first conducted girls golf championships in 1973. Ulrich won 3-2-1A titles at Hesston as a freshman, Hutchinson as a sophomore and again at Hesston last October, when Bowles finished sixth, 12 shots behind Ulrich.
Prairie View sophomore Harley Wade, who finished one shot behind Bowles in seventh last year, was alone in third Monday after carding an 80.
Reigning champion Silver Lake, which won its first team title in program history last year at Hesston, also has a battle on its hands as it looks to go back to back. Caney Valley, bidding for its first state title since completing a 3-2-1A three-peat in 2016, grabbed a two-shot lead over Pittsburg Colgan on Monday with a four-player total of 365. Silver Lake was in third with a 372.
Senior Adi Thompson’s 87 set the pace for Caney. Senior Marayah Gulick added a 91 and sophomore Aiva Price shot 93 for the Bullpups.
Colgan’s 367 was led by senior Ava Scripsick, who was tied for 10
th individually after Day 1 with an 88. Sophomore Danielle Yaghmour added a 90.
Silver Lake will enter the final round within reach of the frontrunners. Taylor Zordel, who finished fourth individually last year for the victorious Eagles, opened with an 86. Kailyn Hanni’s 90 also positioned her in the top 15.