Sep. 30—Battle Ground Golf Club proved to be a challenging test for the golfers at the IHSAA Regional on Saturday.
Large wind gusts and occasional rain from the remnants of Hurricane Helene put the golfers in difficult spots, but at the end the day the third-ranked Zionsville Lady Eagles did what they needed to do to advance to the State Finals, placing second in the field.
“The girls played a solid round of golf,” Zionsville head coach Maggie Nobbe said. “The putts just didn’t fall for us, but they kept pushing through in the tough conditions. I am proud of them.”
The Eagles shot a 314, eight shots behind regional champion Westfield.
It was the third time the Eagles had played at Battle Ground this season in a competitive round.
But while they were familiar with the layout and where to attack the course, the weather made the course different than the previous tournaments — forcing the team to adjust a little bit throughout the round.
“It was hard to find momentum, but at the same time we never really ‘lost it’ either,” Nobbe said. “For the girls, being able to stay in it mentally was important today, because some things weren’t falling but they pushed through even when it wasn’t our day.”
While they are an extremely talented team, the Eagles also a young team with a junior, two sophomores and two freshmen.
Nobbe said the key heading into next weekend is take the positives from the round and the way they played, even if they didn’t score the way they have been in previous weeks.
“This team is young, and for us to shoot that number on a day where they felt they left a lot of shots out there is encouraging,” Nobbe said. “These girls are going to be hungry going into next week, and that’s a positive too.”
Taylor Snively led the Eagles, shooting a 74 to tie for third overall.
Amaya Wade shot a 79, with Paige Henney shooting an 80 and Avery Lewis and 81. Kaitlyn Adler shot an 84.
“Paige was really steady today,” Nobbe said. “She started off well and just continued it throughout. She was a real key for us today. All the girls kept their composure and kept grinding, and are excited for next week.”
The Eagles will get their pairings later in the week, as two regionals got pushed to Monday because of poor course conditions.
Just like the previous two weeks, the Eagles are familiar with the state course, they just have to put it all together for two rounds.
“We have been talking all season about peaking at the right time,” Nobbe said. “We are going to be focusing on some of the little things, and working on our short game — which is going to be important at a place like Prairie View. We just want to focus on what we can control and play some good golf next weekend.”
Western Boone’s historic season comes to an end
An extremely successful season came to an end for the Western Boone girls golf team on Saturday.
The team shot a 390 to place 10th at the regional.
“It was set up a little longer, and with the wet conditions, making good contact with the ball was a struggle,” Western Boone head coach Katie Pilkington said. “As it dried out a little bit, they started to make better contact. This was more of a celebration round for us, playing in as tough of a regional as we do.”
With the exception of Lyla Jackson, all four of the other Stars return next year.
For the returners, Saturday was a good motivation for the future.
“We told them heading in there was no pressure and we just wanted them to enjoy the round,” Pilkington said. “But even without me saying anything, all the girls returning — they were already talking about regionals next year. To have that mindset, and having the culture of making it out of the sectional and wanting to be in the regional — that speaks volumes.”
Ally Lewis led the Stars with an 88. Ila Stokes had a 94, Jada Scott had a 101 and Jackson had a 107.
Jaylee Dickerson shot a 126.
For the season, Western Boone claimed the Sagamore Conference and sectional titles, along with finishing 21-0 in dual matches.
They set the nine-hole school record and Lewis broke the school record for nine holes as well.
“This is the best season WeBo girls golf has ever had,” Pilkington said. “From the opening match you could see this was a special group and they were going to be able to accomplish a lot of their goals. They gelled, they worked hard and all wanted to get better. The whole team 1-10, were super competitive and pushed each other and each night, you never knew who was going to step up. To have that healthy competition and to have the season we had — I am super proud of them.”
Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.
