WINNEMUCCA - It may be just the first tournament of the year, but the Lowry High School girls golf team has positioned itself as the early favorite in the Division I-A North.
A week after shooting a 365 in a preseason Icebreaker, the Lady Bucks followed that up with a winning 377 on Friday, Aug. 31, at Fallon Golf Course. Elko, the defending Division I-A state champion, was second at 394. Spring Creek (404) finished third and Fernley (444) was fourth. Those were the only team scores among the nine schools.
"It was a pretty good way to start out the year," said LHS head coach Andrew Meyer. "We had four solid scores and that is going to be the key to our success. Elko is still missing a couple of girls. I think we can do a lot better score wise and the girls know that. For the first tournament, I wanted them to treat it as a warm up and work on some things and figure out what is going right and what is going wrong."
Fernley freshman Brittany Evans was the low medalist at 82, while the Lady Bucks' Cortney Kieser was second overall at 86.
"It wasn't a bad round for Cortney," Meyer said. "Her scores will come down as the season goes on. She tends to get better and better, later in the season."
Elko's Kaily Beatty was third with a round of 87, while Alyssa Dendary made two Lady Bucks in the top four with her round of 90.
"Alyssa said she had a pretty rough day but its good when a rough day is 86 and 90 for those two," said the coach. "Alyssa is capable of shooting in the low 80's every time out."
Ning Landt carded a 99 for Lowry, while Tori Echeverria shot a 102 for the final kept score. Caitlin Orr shot a 127 and Macy Alvarez a 130 in their first tournament for the Lady Bucks.
"Ning and Tori did OK and I expect them to improve," Meyer said. "It was the first tournament for Caitlin and Macy and they will get better. There are always some nerves in your first tournament. The 377 is a good place to start but I would like to see us in the 360's, which would be a good goal. A big goal of ours is to shoot in the 350's."
With the win, the Lady Bucks took an early lead in the season-long standings that will determine the three state tournament participants from the north. The state championships will be played in mid-October at a northern site to be determined. Lowry is back on the course today, when it travels to Spring Creek for a 9 a.m. start.
"I need to get them into the right mind set that they are the team to beat," Meyer said. "We should not get lazy and complacent with our scores. I need to push them a little more but not too far. Elko and Spring Creek will get better. If we can shoot that same score in Spring Creek, I will be very happy."
[[In-content Ad]]
