GARDEN CITY — Hoisington’s girls golf team continued its streak of placing at state golf by capturing a second consecutive third-place trophy at the Class 3-1A state tournament. It marked the fifth time the Cardinals have captured a third-place state trophy.
The Cardinals (395) finished behind state champion Caney Valley (379) and Hays-Thomas More Prep (392) with the temperature hitting 100 degrees with 20 mph wind at Buffalo Dunes Golf Course. The same three teams finished first, second and third last year at Cheney’s Cherry Oaks Golf Course.
Hoisington featured a trio of top 20 medalists — Madison Wilborn tied for 12th (96); Hadleigh Gardner (98) and Delaney Smith (98) both tied for 15th. The Cardinals also counted Sydney Boxberger (103) with Jaci Schremmer (107) and Trinity Dolezal (114) also competing.
“It was nice to enjoy a reward at the end and win a trophy at state after you work so hard every day,” said Hoisington coach Bruce Cooper. “We sell our depth and our sixth player Hadleigh Gardner ties for 15th.
Coach Cooper said the hard and fast greens and severe rough that created penalties were a bigger challenge than the summerlike weather.
“The course played tough with hard greens that putted fast,” Cooper said. “We had to create some low shots into the greens. Downhill putts were difficult.”
It was tricky to avoid penalty strokes at several intimidating tee shots. Delaney Smith used a hybrid off the tee effectively.
“The girls did a good job of continuing to play,” he said. “It’s an open course, but I’m sure they panicked when they didn’t hit a shot the right way. We stressed hitting your straightest shot off the tee.”
Caney Valley captured its third consecutive state title behind top 10 finishers Paige Price (88) and Jayd Bentley (91).
Faith Hedges of Lawrence Seabury Academy (84) earned medalist honors by three strokes over Karee Dinkel (87) of Hays-TMP and Eureka’s Raegan Boone (87).
CLASS 3A
At Garden City
Buffalo Dunes GC, par 72
TEAM SCORES—1—Caney Valley 379; 2—Hays-TMP 392; 3—Hoisington 395; 4—Eureka 399; 5—Syracuse 404; 6—Cheney 426; 7—Silver Lake 459; 8—Council Grove 464; 9—Kingman 484; 10—St. Marys 484; 11—Uniontown 432
TOP 20 MEDALISTS—1—Faith Hedges, Lawrence Seabury, 84; 2—Karee Dinkel, TMP, 87; 3—Raegan Boone, Eureka, 87; 4—Paige Price, Caney Valley, 88; 5—Rylie Cook, Stanton County, 89 (won playoff); 6—Shannen Chinn, TMP, 89; 7—Winnie Shaw, Independent, 90; 8—Jayd Bentley, Caney Valley, 91; 9—Kate Plunkett, Syracuse, 92; 10—Sam Ptacek, Russell, 94 (won playoff)
11—Jordan Carlson, Council Grove, 94; 12—Riley Baker, Syracuse, 96; Madison Wilborn, Hoisington, 96; 14—Chandler Birkholz, Eureka, 97; 15—Hadleigh Gardner, Hoisington, 98; Kendra Gardner, Caney Valley, 98; Delaney Smith, Hoisington, 98; 18—Kayla Lane, Silver Lake, 99; 19—Amy Akler, Cheney, 100; 20—Hannah Hedges, Caney Valley, 102
HOISINGTON SCORES—Sydney Boxberger 103; Jaci Schremmer 107; Trinity Dolezal 114