ATTICA — Southmont and Lebanon once again battled for the IHSAA girls’ golf sectional crown at Harrison Hills on Saturday.
The Mounties did their job — breaking the 18-hole Southmont school record with a 341 — leaving it in the hands of the Tigers, who were just a little bit better.
Lebanon fired a 339 to win the title — its 10th sectional win in the last 14 years.
“It’s a little bittersweet but at the same time like I always say you can’t control what the other team shoots,” Southmont coach Bill Whalen said. “We came out and broke the school record on a really tough course and Lebanon was just two strokes better than us. 341 is a fabulous score and I’m really proud of what the girls did today. When you shoot your best and somebody beats you, you just have to tip your hat to them.”
The 341 mark for Southmont broke the school record set back in 2019 (344). Freshman Addison Meadows was the meet medalist with a (+1) 73. This season the Mounties have broken the 9-hole and 18-hole records, 9-hole individual, 18-hole individual score and overall average score.
Along with Meadows’ 73, Macie Shirk shot a personal best 80, Bailey Barker ended with a 91, Taylor Grino carded a 97 and Stella Snook a 114.
“Macie has gotten so much better and she’s only going to continue to get better,” Whalen said of Shirk who’ll be playing collegiately at St. Mary of the Woods. “She puts the work in and it and paid off. Then you look at Addison who shot a 73 on this course and that’s outstanding for a freshman to do. Just like Macie she’s only going to get better as well and thankfully we have her for another three years.”
“Playing with my team has helped me get to where I am today,” Meadows said. “Watching Macie shoot her personal best and this entire team succeeding means the world to me because they’re like family. I can see both Macie and I getting out next week and I’ve set a goal of my own to get to state so I don’t why we couldn’t make it there.”
Coming into this season, Shirk set out a goal for the entire team to make it back to the regional. That goal can now be checked off as her and Meadows will lead the Mounties as they extend their season one more week.
“It’s awesome that I set out our goal for this team and we were able to meet it,” Shirk said. “It’s nice to know now going into the regional that we’ve been there before and Addison has played on that course before so she’ll be use to it. Just the fact that we’re going as a team makes that more enjoyable.”
North Montgomery tied for fifth with a 438 as Grace Littell led the way for the Chargers with a 106. Morgan Swick ended right behind her with a 107 while Grace Shrader shot a 112. Ella Stultz and Shayna Ratcliff both carded 113’s in their final meet of the season.
“My number coming in was 448 so they did beat that by ten strokes which is nice to see,” Charger coach Nick Johnson said. “I still think we could’ve shot a little better but every one of the girls played well. We’ve been consistent throughout the year but just not good enough sometimes. The COVID break really hurt us because I thought we were playing really well. Something like that is hard to come back from.”
The Chargers will graduate three seniors in Swick, Stultz, and Rylie Koopman.
“They’ve all been kind of my seniors for the last two years since no one graduated last year,” he said. “They’ve all really shot their personal bests here and the course played tough so I’m glad they got to end on a high note.”
Crawfordsville shot a 491. Missing their top player in Sadie Walker, that forced Carli Payne into the top spot for the last few weeks. Payne led the way for the Athenians with a 110. McKenzie Wilson added a 122, while Christen Saunders fired a 123, and Nancy Blanchard recorded a 139.
Improvement has always been at the forefront of coach Tony Thomas’s philosophy for this season and he saw his players do just that in their final few matches of the season.
“We missed Sadie’s leadership and score while she’s been out,” he said. “Although Carli’s improvement from last season to the end of this season has been lights out. She’s improved by strokes even though she didn’t show it today. We’re going to have everyone back next year including four new freshman so we’re excited to get back at it.”
Fountain Central posted a 458 with Cassadi Parks leading the way with a 104. Aubrey Hicks shot a 114, Nola Walls a 119, Emily Keeling a 121 and Hannah Parks a 129.
Southmont will compete at Smock Golf Course in Indianapolis as part of Friday’s regional. The top three teams and the top 5 individuals from non-advancing teams will qualify for the state finals in two weeks.