Oct. 23—Lee County women’s golf is headed to next week’s state championship meet after a strong outing at Monday’s NCHSAA 3A Central Regional at The Valley Golf Course in Burlington.
The Lady Jackets’ Sydney Pomeranz tied with two other golfers for first place in the one-day, 18-hole event, while Lee County as a team finished second overall and thereby qualified as a team for next week’s 3A finals at the Longleaf Golf and Family Club, to be held Monday starting at 9 a.m.
The Lady Jackets were easily into the regionals as the top 3A team in the Sandhills Athletic Conference this season. Although Pinecrest won the overall SAC title, the top 3A team in the league is also treated as a conference champion, and Lee finished first among the 3A teams and second only to the 4A Lady Patriots at every conference meet.
On Monday, Pomeranz, a senior, was among the top golfers throughout the match. She finished the front nine tied for the lead with Addison Sage of Ledford High School, with both golfers shooting 39. Sage faded to 10th overall on the back nine while Pomeranz shot a 38 on the back nine, but two other golfers had strong back nines and tied her with an overall score of 77. Cristina Murphy of Carrboto shot 40-37, and Southern Alamance’s Riley Bush shot 41-36 to also share medalist honors.
As a team, Lee County was second overall to Southern Alamance, which shot 243 as a team to the Lady Jackets’ 255. The top three individual performers for each team count toward the team score. Union Pines competed as a team as well, tying for fifth at 291, while Scotland was tied for 12th at a score of 320.
“We set our goals high this year,” said head coach Joan Wicker. “Our Lady Jackets are excited to add the award to the showcase in Peace Gym! Way to play, Savannah, Lauren, Laney, Sydney, Mary Thomas, and Kara!”
Savannah Phillips finished eighth as an individual for Lee County, shooting 45-41 for a total of 86. In 15th place was Mary Thomas Smith, who shot 47-45 for a total of 92. Rounding out the team for Lee were Laney Laudate and Lauren Sloan, who shot 99 and 105, respectively.
The top finisher for Union Pines was freshman Aleah Farlow, who shot 43-46 to finish 13th overall. Celine Trumm was 18th with a total of 43-50. Emma Dixon shot 55-54 for the Lady Vikings and Katelynn Ledergerber shot 56-55.
