Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
TOM SOUTHARD / THE OBSERVER Katie Heeg is ready to putt during play at the Kimball Invitational, where she finished 4th in individual honors. The Longhorn golfers will try to continue their winning ways at the WTC Tournament.
The Kimball girls golf team picked up a pair of team championships this past week and Payton Wise added a pair of medalist honors to her season as well. The Kimball girls won their own Invitational Tournament and captured top honors at the Creek Valley Tournament in Chappell.
KIMBALL INVITATIONAL
With 3 of their golfers finishing in the top ten medal group, the Kimball girls wrapped up the team victory with a score of 446 while Gordon/Rushville finished runner-up with 492, followed by Bridgeport with 513 and Perkins County with 558.
It was a tough day for low scores on the Kimball Four Winds course as the greens were rolling fast and the pin placements were a challenge for the young ladies. Kimball's Payton Wise one the individual top finish with her gold medal round of 46-44=90, which was 19 strokes better than 2nd place carded by Shelby Hurlburt of Gordon/Rushville who shot the runner-up score of 109. Abby Bruns of Gordon/Rushville also shot 109 for 3rd place in a scorecard playoff.
Kimball junior Katie Heeg was 4th with 54-58=112 and Brooklin Golding finished 7th for Kimball with her round of 54-65=119. Maddie Cook was just two strokes out of the top 10 with her round of 70-55=125 and Keara O'Brien shot 80-83=163. A good showing by Hannah Schildhauer playing as an individual JV golfer scoring 71-69=140.
Other top ten finishes were Kylie Coomes of Gordon/Rushville in 5th place with 113, Tarah Ross of Garden County 6th at 113, Ashley Estrada of Bridgeport 8th with 119, Keana Hill of Garden County 9th with 121, and Kayton Bruggeman of Perkins County 10th with 123.
Kimball coach Katie Culek said, "We didn't shoot the scores we would have liked, but still the girls got the job done, and the course played hard. You don't always get the low score you are after, but I am proud of the girls and the way they played on a hot day and a hard course".
CREEK VALLEY INVITATIONAL
Kimball got that low score they have been seeking with a winning team score of 396 at Chappell just 2 days later besting the Scottsbluff JV team, which finished 2nd by a large margin as the runnerup team score was 474.
Another medalist win for Payton Wise with her round of 46-41=87, 3 strokes better than Olivia Taylor of Scottsbluff who was runnerup with 90. Brooklin Golding shot a personal all time best round of 51-45=96 to bring home the 3rd place medal. Kimball had four of their golfers finish in the top ten medal group with Maddie Cook 8th with 50-55=105 and Katie Heeg 9th with 50-58=108. Although she didn't make the top ten, Keara O'Brien also shot an all-time personal best round of 63-56=119, and Hannah Schildhauer, playing as a JV had a round of 73-72=145.
Coach Culek was quite pleased with the play of the girls as a complete team.
"It was very encouraging to have four of our girls place in the top ten, and was good to see Brooklin (Golding) and Keara O'Brien shoot their all time best rounds. Now we have to get ready for a strong showing at Western Trails Conference in Mitchell," she said.
Kimball is scheduled to be back in action today (Thursday) at the WTC Tournament being hosted this year by Mitchell with a 9 a.m. start time. On Tuesday, September 15, they are at Gering, also a 9 a.m. start.
