GREENSBURG — Neither a light rain that intermittently fell throughout the round, nor a heavier rain that came near the end of Saturday’s Greensburg Sectional could slow down the Columbus North girls golfers.
The fourth-ranked Bull Dogs posted five of the day’s six best scores in running away with the title at Greensburg Country Club. Their season-best 306 was 66 shots better than runner-up Batesville’s 372.
“I’m really happy for our girls,” North coach Scott Seavers said. “We played in some really tough conditions and still had a great score today. I’m really pleased the way they battled, and they’re mentally tough. This is a really talented team, and I’m just thankful to be a part of it.”
Columbus East finished with a 379 to claim the third and final qualifying spot to Saturday’s Lapel Regional at Edgewood Golf Course in Anderson.
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North senior Holly Anderson and sophomore Alex Munnicha each shot 5-over-par 75 to tie for medalist honors. Anderson overcame a double-bogey on the par-4 No. 8.
“That was bad, and then I bogeyed my last hole, so that was a little rough, but 75 I think is good for me for this weather,” Anderson said.
Anderson had a 38 on the front nine and a 37 on the back. Munnicha followed a 39 on the front with a 36 on the back.
Munnicha, who just missed an eagle putt on the par-5 No. 14, was nine shots better than in the Hall of Fame Tournament three weeks earlier on the same course.
“I’m really happy about the way I played because a few weeks ago at the Hall of Fame, I shot an 84, and I wanted to do better than that this week,” Munnicha said. “I was putting way better. I three-putted many greens last time, and today, everything just clicked for me.”
North senior Danbi Kim was one shot back of Anderson and Munnicha, finishing third with a 76. Julia Luken tied for fourth with an 80, and Aubrey Smith finished sixth with an 84.
“That just shows that anyone of our top five can win a tournament,” Anderson said. “I think we’re going to do pretty good at the regional.”
Meanwhile, the Olympians survived their worst 18-hole round of the season to advance to regional. They finished 10 shots ahead of fourth-place Greensburg.
Lily Shelp led East with a 91. Zoe Rangel carded a 93, Autumn Fateley added a 96, Natalie Ryan shot 99 and Morgan Harrison had a 102.
“It’s good to get to play another week and get experience for our kids, but I’m not really happy with the score,” East coach Troy Buntin said. “I know that the weather was tough, and we had a lot of rain, but it was that way for everybody. Our putting today was horrendous, so we’ll work on our short game, and hopefully, we’ll be better next week.”
South Decatur finished sixth with a 418. Shelby Vannatta led the Cougars with a 95.
Also for South Decatur, Lydia Wolterman carded a 96. Annie Gant added a 109, Olivia Fry shot 118 and Olivia Clarkson had a 120.
“I don’t know if it was the elements or a little bit of nerves,” South Decatur coach Josh Grossman said. “We knew that we had a chance starting out with how the scores have been going this year. We thought we were going to be possibly be right there with Greensburg and just didn’t quite play the way we’d like to today.”
