Fountain Central made the short drive to the Crawfordsville Municipal Golf Course Thursday night as the Athenians and the Mustangs matched up on links. Fountain Central would head back home with the win over Crawfordsville as the Mustangs shot a 236 while the Athenians would end with a score of 252.
On the night Crawfordsville was without their number one golfer in Junior Sadie Walker. That allowed Sophomore Carli Payne to step into the number one spot for the Athenians and she took home medalist honors by shooting a 52. Christen Saunders shot a 66, followed by McKenzie Wilson’s 66 and Nancy Blanchard’s 72.
“That was her personal best tonight,” Crawfordsville coach Tony Thomas said of Payne. “She just continues to improve and I know she’ll be great for us. When I told her that Sadie wasn’t going to be here she just stepped and told me that she could handle it and she did. Even with shooting in the low 50’s she still left strokes out there so there’s always room for improvement.”
For the Mustangs, Cassadi Parks led the way by carding a 53. Nola Walls finished one stroke behind Parks with a 53. Aubrey Hicks ended her day by shooting a 63. Both Hannah Parks and Emily Keeling rounded out the scoring for the Mustangs by each shooting a 66.
“These girls have improved so much since last year,” Fountain Central coach Nikki Swisher said. “It’s still a learning process for us and getting consistent play for most of them though as we move forward. We just had two practices before our first 18-hole match to begin the season so that’s the tough part is learning on the fly.”
With it still being early in the season, both Swisher and Thomas aren’t too focused on the wins and losses, but are just making sure both of their teams are improving each time they go out and play.
“Especially with McKenzie and Nancy, their scores doesn’t reflect the improvement that they both have made so far. If we can improve as a team from match to match then that’s all that matters. All of them are great kids and fun to coach.”
Crawfordsville will return to the links on Saturday as they will play in their second 18-hole match of the season making the short drive to the Crawfordsville Country Club for the Southmont Invite. Fountain Central will also compete in their second 18-hole match as they will compete in the Benton Central Invite tonight.
