Girls tee off in two tournaments

John Asay, The Mountaineer, Waynesville, N.C.
·2 min read

Sep. 23—Over the past few weeks, the Pisgah and Tuscola girls golf teams have hardly left the course.

First up was the WNC High School Girls Golf Invitational Sept. 13, at Springdale Country Club, hosted by Tuscola.

WNC Invitational

The invitational was an 18-hole (par 72) event with 10 teams from across the western region competing and getting a taste of what is to come at the conference, regional and state competitions in similar tournament conditions.

The final tally for team scores saw the Lady Mountaineers finish in a tie for fourth place, while the Lady Bears finished in 10th place.

T.C. Roberson won the event, and North Henderson took second. West Henderson and Hendersonville tied for third place, West Lincoln and North Buncombe tied for fourth position and AC Reynolds and Cherokee rounded out the scoring.

Scores for Tuscola were: McKenna Williams (82), Sakari Morgan (122), Josie Ostendorff (134) and Emma Arrington (136).

"We're steadily improving and working on our game," said Tuscola head coach Sean Williams. "Every stroke is very important right now."

He said he's working on getting his players to think about being a competitor and open up the category in their minds to go out there and win.

For Pisgah, Aloah Cox hit 124 in the 18-hole match, while Kensie Mathis shot 60, Olivia Merrell shot 64 and Samantha Ivester shot 66 in the 9-hole match.

"There are some areas of improvement, but overall we're learning the game and the girls' confidence is getting much higher," said Pisgah head coach Taylor Clark. "Last week, Aloah Cox shot a 46 and that was a huge improvement. Aloah has a lot of golf knowledge. We need to take that knowledge and translate in a game that's she comfortable playing."

Tuscola takes Laurel Ridge

Two days later, Sept. 15, both teams were back on the course, and competed in a 4-team, 9-hole event at Laurel Ridge Country Club. North Henderson and Smoky Mountain also competed.

Tuscola took home the team trophy with a 156. North Henderson was second (172), Smoky Mountain third (174) and Pisgah fourth (185).

To help Tuscola take first place, McKenna Williams captured another medalist honor with the low score of 41.

To round out the Lady Mountaineers' scoring, Sakari Morgan shot 54, Josie Ostendorff shot 61, Haiden Woods shot 68 and Emma Arrington shot 70.

Sean Williams singled Morgan's performance.

"Sakari is making a real downward movement, shooting a 54 at a very difficult Laurel Ridge course. She's made significant improvement," he said.

Pisgah's scores included Aloah Cox (46), Kensie Mathis (59), Olivia Merrell (61), Valentina Miquez (61) and Savannah Ivester (62).

"We're working to find what each girl is comfortable with," Clark said. "We have scheduled three matches this coming week in preparation for conference."