FALL SPORTS NOTES: Lee’s Summit North golfer relishes state title

Source: The Star

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After winning the Missouri Class 2 girls golf individual state championship last week, senior McCall Christopher returned to Lee’s Summit North High School as the toast of the Broncos’ squad.

“School’s been pretty electrified,” coach Amy Merritt said. “She walks down any hall, and (whether it was) student or teacher, they’re still congratulating her. She had some students sing the fight song to her. They’re very, very excited.”

It’s a fitting tribute for Christopher, who became the school’s first individual state champ in boys or girls golf, according to Merritt. Christopher in her win last Tuesday at Fremont Hills Country Club in Springfield also tied the state record for lowest two-day total on a par-70 course with a score of 145 (73-72).

“She didn’t let the atmosphere and wanting to win be too much for her,” Merritt said. “She just did it very smoothly. … She played like she was behind by three strokes. She had a game plan, and she stuck with it.”

Christopher now looks forward to a golf career at Indiana State.

While Lee’s Summit North has a individual state champion to celebrate, Notre Dame de Sion can boast of winning another team state title.

Sion captured its third straight Missouri Class 2 championship. The Storm’s five-player team produced a two-day combined score of 653 on the par-70 course

“I’m so proud of them,” coach Dana Hoeper said. “For four of them to finish in the top 15 and make all-state ... they did really well.”

Sion’s Erin Shriver led the Storm by finishing in a tie for fifth place, followed by teammates Alexandra Keane and Francie Reintjes, who were locked together in seventh place. Christina Behnken tied for 15th, and Abby Bernard finished tied for 20th place.

St. Teresa’s Academy senior Casey O’Flaherty started that windy second day of the Class 2 state tournament in a fight just to make all-state status. She needed to rebound from her first-day score of 82, so when she struggled a bit on the front nine last Tuesday, O’Flaherty decided to go for it.

“I shot a 43 on the front nine, I don’t know what happened,” O’Flaherty said. “Something clicked in the back. Everything mentally was going right. I birdied the first hole and that put me in a good rhythm.”

O’Flaherty rode that momentum to the runner-up position, climbing back with a second-day score of 78. When her group walked off the final hole, O’Flaherty figured that several Sion golfers had finished higher than her, but was surprised to learn her 160 overall score tied for second place.

“I really didn’t believe it at first,” O’Flaherty said. “I was just in shock. My dad came over to give me a hug and congratulations, and I still couldn’t believe it.”

O’Flaherty, who will sign a letter of intent with Rockhurst University, helped her team finish fourth overall.

“Our goal was to come home with a banner and it was pretty exciting,” St. Teresa’s coach Teresa Bochert said.

In Class 1 girls golf, Pembroke Hill did not play a single hole of golf on the second day but still finished as the overall runner-up team.

The weather conditions were so severe last Tuesday at the Sedalia Country Club that the Missouri State High School Activities Association cancelled the second round. The Raiders, who had finished the first day even with Westminster, won the tiebreaker with their No. 5 golfer’s score. Westminster did not have a fifth golfer at state, so Pembroke Hill automatically moved to second place overall.

“It’s the way golf works,” Pembroke Hill coach Chip Campbell said. “Overall, I think things went quite well.”

Pembroke Hill’s Evan Sterneck placed in a tie for 13th and finished among the all-state golfers.

Storm, Stars third at state tennisLast weekend in Springfield, the Notre Dame de Sion tennis team celebrated a third-place finish in the Class 1 state championships.

“I think that a lot of people did not expect us to do that well this year because we had lost quite a bit of seniors,” Sion coach Karen O’Neill said. “Our whole team really worked hard … So it’s nice when you work hard and things work out for you.”

Sion senior Amy Barnthouse defeated Barstow’s Kate Sims (6-3, 6-1) in the third-place singles’ match, while Emmy Bird and Brydie O’Conner took down the Pembroke Hill doubles team of Elena McCallister/Courtney McCray (4-6, 6-1, 6-3) to claim fifth place overall.

Much like rival Sion, St. Teresa’s Academy finished third, but in the state’s Class 2 state tournament. Kylie Hornbeck led the charge as a singles player by placing sixth overall.

submitted by CANDACE BUCKNER - 2009-10-27 13:04:01