EHS golf team earns medal
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Emporia High girls golf team started off its season by earning a team medal at Lake Shawnee Golf Course in Topeka.
The Spartans shot a 441 as a team, good for a third-place finish at the five-team, 18-hole tournament hosted by Shawnee Heights. Hannah Watkins led the Spartans with a 102, finishing two places short of an individual medal with a 12th-place showing.
“For the first tournament of the year, I thought it was very good,” EHS coach Rick Eckert said. “Especially considering we normally don’t play an 18-hole tournament until ... September. And today was an 18-hole tournament on a course that is extremely difficult to walk. Lake Shawnee is a beautiful golf course, but I mean, it is just up and down the hills around the lake. And the girls were wiped out when they were done. They were tired, but they did a good job.”
Two of Watkins’ fellow seniors, Makenzie Harder and Kelsey Burenheide, posted Emporia’s second- and third-best scores. Harder shot a 111, and Burenheide posted a 113. Freshman Amber Mechtley shot a 115 to finish fourth among the Spartans and round out their team scoring. Seniors Rachael Clopton and Melissa Heinitz shot a 117 and a 120, respectively.
The early tournament was the first time this group of Spartans had seen Lake Shawnee, where EHS doesn’t normally go during the season.
“The scores were pretty much on the money with where I expected everybody to be,” Eckert said. “Putting was a big problem today. The greens were exceptionally slow. With us practicing at the Municipal (Golf Course), the greens crew out there has done a nice job — the greens are very smooth, very fast. And the greens we played today were very furry and very slow. And that was a pretty big challenge for the girls, making that big of an adjustment.”
Manhattan and Washburn Rural were far and away the class of the tournament. Manhattan shot a 346 to win the tourney, and Rural finished with a 349. Coming in behind EHS was St. James Academy at 445, followed by Shawnee Heights at 448.
Emily Isaacson of Washburn Rural won the event’s individual top medal. Isaacson shot a 76, winning the tournament by seven strokes.
“Our scores (were) comparable to where we were at the end of last year,” Eckert said. “So that’s a good way to start this season.”
The Spartans’ next action will be at home; they’ll host the Emporia Invite on Sept. 1 at Emporia Municipal.