After the first two tournaments in the Northern 3A, the Lowry High School girls golf team is happy with where they are at.
A day after finishing second at Ruby View Golf Course in Elko, the Lady Bucks placed third at Spring Creek Golf Course on Thursday, Sept. 7.
Elko, the defending 3A state champion, was first at 378 and Spring Creek was second on its home course at 424. Lowry shot 342 to finish third and Fernley (450) and Churchill County (483) rounded out the top five.
Truckee (521) was sixth, South Tahoe (533) finished seventh and Dayton (538) was eighth. Sparks did not have enough golfers to record a team score.
“It was pretty much where I thought we would be,” said LHS coach Tod Milton. “Spring Creek had the advantage of playing on its home course. If you don’t hit in the fairways and are in the sagebrush it is going to be a long day. We still get to play our home course and we are away from Elko’s and Spring Creek’s home courses.”
The battle for the top individual spot in the Northern 3A continues — this time Lowry’s Tatyana Carlson took home low medalist spot. The junior shot 80 on the 18-hole layout and beat Elko’s Annika Criss by nine strokes. Elko’s Sarah Sarbacker was third at 90, while Spring Creek’s Courtney Tournahu (96) and Elko’s Caresse Basaraba (97) completed the top five.
“Tatyana’s round of 80 at Spring Creek was more impressive than her 77 in Elko,” added Milton. “I wanted to see how it would play out with Annika not on her home course. Tatyana has worked hard and becoming a good leader. The girls look up to her.”
Hannah Havens carded a 104 for the Lady Bucks and freshman Angelina Martinez finished at 112. Mekenzie Vandemark (136) and Kaitlyn Hales (163) rounded out the scores for Lowry.
Lowry was right back on the course in South Lake Tahoe and Monday and Truckee on Tuesday. Results were not available at press time. The Lady Bucks return to the course on Friday, Sept. 22 in Dayton.
The Northern 3A does not hold a postseason tournament and the three qualifying teams are based on point standings. Elko is currently first and Spring Creek and Lowry are tied for second, while Fernley is fourth.
"The girls are putting the time in practice to get better," Milton said. "it is weird to think after our trip to Lake Tahoe, our season is half over. If we can stay in second or third place, we have a good chance at making it to state as a team. At the start of the year, I didn't know if we were going to have a full team."