DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
CEYLON – The Bluffton Tigers picked up Monday right where they left off last season, winning the season-opening South Adams Invite at Wabash Valley with a 369. The mark was not too far off from their sectional-winning team score of 359 last fall. The Tigers finished well ahead of Adams Central, winning by 29 strokes, despite an outstanding performance by the Jets.
Norwell had all three players Monday under the 100 mark, but did not have a fourth score to count for the event. They will be at full strength in Tuesday’s Bellmont Invite. Ellie Gatton captured medalist honors with a masterful round of 78. Gatton figures to be one of the top players in the area this season.
Bellmont finished in fourth with a 409, while South Adams was a bit further back with a 434, finishing one stroke behind Southern Wells in sixth place. Heritage shot a 475 and finished in eighth.
AC’s #1, Londyn Smith, got off to a rocky start to her morning on the back nine, but after hitting her tee shot long on the Par-3 15th, she settled down. Smith played the first six holes at +11, then finished her round at just +6 on the final 12 holes. She led the Jets with an 88 and secured a top-four finish with a birdie on her final hole, the Par-3 9th.
Adrienne Johnson, who set aside her volleyball uniform this year for a golf bag, made a solid debut at No. 2 for the Jets, shooting a 102. She played bogey golf for the first half of the day. Tenley Hendricks also started well for the Jets and finished at an even 100.
The standout performance for Heritage came from Morgan Comment at #4. Starting on the back, Comment made the turn with a 63, but came back to shoot a 50 on the front. Her round was highlighted by an eagle midway through her round. Comment reeled off a killer drive that rolled onto the green and then drained a long putt for the 2 on her scorecard.
“Morgan can have some really good moments, “said head coach Amanda Minchski, “and that was one of them, for sure. It’s not something that even really shocks us, hearing that she made an eagle. She has those types of abilities. She keeps maturing and getting better with experience.”
“These tournaments are just so important for the girls in terms of their season,” said Amanda Minchski, who was juggling her coaching and teaching duties throughout the day as the school year gets underway this week for East Allen.
“They need to learn how the game of golf can go one way one day, then turn around and be different the next day,” referencing the Patriots’ participation at Cross Creek Tuesday. “We are still really young and the opportunity to play 36 holes at the start of the year is an opportunity that we just can’t give up, even if school starts earlier and earlier each year.”
Bellmont’s ace, Ella Hockemeyer, played much better after she made the turn herself. The senior was playing double-bogey golf on the front, but turned it around and did not record a score higher than 6 on her card on the back nine, finishing at 95 in 8th place.
“All five girls improved over last year’s scores,” said long-time Bellmont head coach Mike Macke. “We shot 47 strokes better as a team over last year.”
The biggest improvements came from juniors Lyla Post and Ava Billman.
“Lyla dropped 30 shots from last year and Ava dropped 20!” exclaimed Macke after the tournament wrapped up.
“I thought it was a pretty good first outing,” said Macke of his team, who will host many of the same teams at Cross Creek Tuesday.
“I believe all five will break 100 some time this season,” predicted the coach. “Hopefully we can get at least four to do that on the same day.”
South Adams played fairly consistently with some new faces in the lineup. Brooklyn Green led the team with a 102.
Team Scores: 1st-Bluffton 369; 2nd-Adams Central 398; 3rd-Frankton 402; 4th-Bellmont 409; 5th-Southern Wells 433; 6th-South Adams 434; 7th-Canterbury 449; 8th-Heritage 475; 9th-Jay County 484; 10th-Bishop Luers 503; Norwell-No Score
Top Ten Individuals: 1st-Ellie Gatton-Norwell 78; 2nd-Emma Schwartz-Bluffton 81; 3rd-Kylia Buis-Frankton 85; 4th-Londyn Smith-AC 88; 5th-Savannah Simerman-Norwell 90; 6th-Addi Kaufman-Bluffton 91; 7th-Alexa Coble-Canterbury 91; 8th-Ella Hockemeyer-Bellmont 95; 9th-Eve Corkwell-Bluffton 97; 10th-Emma Burnam-Norwell 99
Heritage Scores: Liz Buuck 122, Natalie Sorg 119, Aubrey Stoll 121, Morgan Comment 113, Leah Koroncevicius 123
Adams Central Scores: Londyn Smith 88, Adrienne Johnson 102, Tenley Hendricks 100, Lilly Johnson 108, Sophie Johnson 117
Bellmont Scores: Ella Hockemeyer 95, Morgan Huss 104, Kinley Martin 110, Ava Billman 106, Lyla Post 104
South Adams Scores: Brooklyn Green 102, Sofia Orr 106, Kendall Minger 113, Aubrey Orr 113, Margo Bernard 116
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