When the NIAA Division I-A Girls State Golf Championships began on Monday in Elko, Lowry High School was considered an underdog going into the two-day tournament.
Despite not being as dominant in the past couple of years, Faith Lutheran and Clark were considered the favorites to claim the top two spots once again. The Lady Bucks were looking to sneak out a runner-up finish or to be the best team out of the north. However, the championships didn't play like the Lady Bucks wanted it to.
Faith Lutheran, of the Division I-A South won the state title for a third straight season, shooting 697 over two days. Clark, also located in Las Vegas, was second at 710, Elko placed third at 757 and Lowry was fourth with a 777. SECTA (854) and Fernley (885) rounded out the team scores.
"We just didn't play our best," said LHS coach Vince Mendiola. "I have never seen so many four-foot putts turn into three putts. That happened on both days for us. We had trouble with the short game and did not make a putt from a distance."
Faith Lutheran's Julia Becker won the individual title for a second consecutive season with a 1-under 143, Her teammate Sydney Smith was second at 148 and Elko's Kaily Beatty (156) and Fernley's Brittany Evans (158) were third and fourth, respectively. Clark's Grace Kang rounded out the top five with a 160.
"Faith Lutheran and Clark had some pretty good golfers," Mendiola said. "Julia is a Division I college player. There is not that much separation though when start going down further in the lineup. We were only six shots behind Elko on that first day and had a good chance to finish third if we played well enough."
Lowry's Alyssa Dendary was ninth overall with a 171, which included rounds of 90 and 81.
"I know she wanted to play better in her final state tournament," Mendiola said. "She had a couple of bad holes that got her. She was hitting the ball well, it was the short game that hurt her."
Brooklyn Backus and Elise Rose were 15th and 16th at 195 and 196, respectively. Backus had rounds of 96 and 99, while Rose shot 99 on day one and 97 on day two.
Savanna Cox was 25th at 108-107-215, Kaity Sample placed 27th at 111-107-218 and Veronica Jones was 33rd at 114-115-229.
"The young girls did some good things," Mendiola. "But it comes back to you can't just play from Aug. 15 to Oct. 21. You have to get out there and play all year round or as much as you can. We were hoping to get Brooklyn and Elise right around that 90 mark. Kaity had a good first her for just starting this year. Thank god someone from the Men's Club gave us a brand new set of clubs for us."
Dendary is the lone senior on the team, which includes five sophomores. The Lady Bucks will bring that group back, along with some new freshmen.
"We are definitely going to miss Alyssa and what she brings to the team," Mendiola said. "We have a young team coming back and hopefully some new girls coming in as freshmen that can help us out."[[In-content Ad]]
