WINNEMUCCA - It is just two weeks into the season and the rivalry between the Lowry High School girls golf team and Elko is starting to heat up.
The Lady Bucks won the regular season opener in Fallon on Friday, Aug. 31, and now the Indians have claimed the top spot in the Division I-A North with its victory this past Friday in Spring Creek.
Elko shot a 380 as a team, beating Lowry (391) by 11 shots. The host Spartans was third at 415 and Fernley (468) and Truckee (470) rounded out the top five. Churchill County (479) and Dayton (546) were sixth and seventh, respectively. South Tahoe did not record a team score.
"Elko has its full team back and I have been trying to push the girls to be ready for it," said LHS head coach Andrew Meyer. "They are going to have to step up and put in the hard work during practice. We still have a good team, and we had a rough day. There will be days like that, and we can't let that get us down. The difference between us and Elko is that Elko has six girls that score in the 90s, and we have four. If we don't have that fourth score it's going to kill us."
Fernley freshman Brittany Evans shot 82 to win low medalist honors for the second consecutive week. Elko's Kaily Beatty was second at 85 and Lowry's Cortney Kieser and Alyssa Dendary tied for third with rounds of 88. The Lady Bucks' Ning Landt tied for fifth with a 95, along with Elko's Kourtney Powers and Spring Creek's Aspen Hebdon and Mikal Jerman.
"Cortney and Alyssa weren't happy about their rounds, but they are still shooting 88 on a bad day," Meyer said.
Tori Echeverria recorded a 120 for the final score counted toward the team total, and Macy Alvarez and Rachel Jones finished with a 123 and 153, respectively.
"Tori rolled her ankle out on the course and we had to tape her ankle up," added the coach. "She had a tough day, but I know she is capable of shooting right at 100. I was pleased with Macy and she continues to get better. The course at Spring Creek played tough and the greens were fast. It is a home field advantage for both Elko and Spring Creek up there. We lose the advantage of not having a home meet this year."
Lowry and Elko share the lead in the Division I-A North standings with 16 points and are four points ahead of Spring Creek (12) who is in third. The top three teams in the final regular season standings advance to the NIAA State Championships in mid-October.
The Lady Bucks travel to South Tahoe for a 9 a.m. tee time on Wednesday for its next conference meet.
"I think finishing second to Elko was the best thing to happen to us," Meyer said. "We have a good rivalry going with them and there is nothing wrong with that. It is going to be a battle between us for the rest of the year to see who can win the north."
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