For high school girls, the dream of a state championship in the sport of golf begins Monday at state tournaments across Kansas.
Area golfers will be participating at state tournaments in three different classifications — Class 3-2-1A in Salina, 4A in Hesston and 5A in Emporia. This year’s events will take place over two days, with the first round of 18 set for Monday and round two on Tuesday.
This is the breakdown of every individual from the area participating in the state girls’ golf tournaments.
CLASS 3-2-1A
Salina Municipal Golf Course will be serving as host to this year’s Class 3-2-1A Girls’ State Golf Tournament.
Caney Valley captured the championship of the Uniontown Regional Tournament last Tuesday at Woodlawn Hills Golf Course in Fort Scott. The Lady Bullpups won the regional title for a 10th consecutive years and will be seeking their fourth state championship in the past six years. CVHS previously won three consecutive crowns from 2014-16. Representing Caney Valley at state will be individual regional champion Bailey Price, as well as Kloie Clegg, Ava Freisberg, Emma Hockett, Talynn Thornton and Saige Scott.
The top three teams at regionals advanced to state competition. Also advancing from the Uniontown Regional were runner-up Frontenac and third-place Pittsburg-Colgan. Competing from Frontenac will be Brianna Green, MacKenzie Hensley, Autumn Bryant, Mallory Snow, Emma Jessie and Kiera Threlfall. Joining them from Pittsburg-Colgan will be Greta Ison, Riley Root, Zoey Smith, Eleanor Smith, Ali Scripsick and Brenn Beykirch.
In addition to those three teams, five other players qualified individually from the Uniontown Regional — Zelpha Estes and Shaley Sommer of Fredonia, Miracle Dutton of Eureka, Megan McClendon of West Elk and Lindi Schmelzer of Baxter Springs.
Here are the official pairings for the entire field of the Class 3-2-1A State Tournament:
Class 3-2-1A State Golf Pairings
CLASS 4A
Seven different area schools will be represented at the Class 4A State Tournament, which is slated for the Hesston Golf Course in Hesston.
Four area schools qualified as a team for state, including three from the Fort Scott Regional (Chanute, Fort Scott, Girard) and another from the Anderson County Regional (Anderson County).
Chanute captured the regional championship at Woodlawn Hills Golf Course, edging out runner-up Fort Scott and third-place Girard.
The top golfer for the Blue Comets was Jerlyn Kustanborter, who took second place at regionals. Chanute had five of the top nine scores in the regional, including Timmen Goracke and Lia Gutierrez in a tie for sixth, Janessa Varndell in eighth and Megan Kueser in ninth. Also competing at state will be Katelyn Caldwell.
Lauren Madison, the individual regional champion, will lead Fort Scott into state competition. She was joined in the top 10 by Karlie Chipman in fourth place. Also representing the Tigers will be Lillian Leigh and Ryan Thurston.
Girard will have five individuals traveling to Hesston for state, including Marcy McDonald, Isabella Crumpacker, MacKynze Pride, Lilly Beckman and Bree Murphy. McDonald was the top Trojan golfer at regionals in fifth place.
Anderson County qualified for state by finishing in third place at its own regional tournament last Monday at Garnett Country Club. Wamego captured the regional title, followed by Tonganoxie in the runner-up spot.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs at regionals was Maclaine Sears, who tied for fourth place in the individual standings. Two other ACHS golfers placed in the top 10, including Madison Stevens in seventh place and Jaxcen Farren in a tie for 10th. Also advancing to state are Ally Duke and Madolyn Honn.
In addition to those four teams, five other area golfers qualified individually for state from the Fort Scott Regional — Bailey Werner and Karsyn Webber of Independence, Destiny Lima and Sydney Hulvey of Columbus, and Josie Hayward of Labette County.
Here are the official pairings for the entire field of the Class 4A State Tournament:
CLASS 5A
Pittsburg High School will be represented by two golfers at the Class 5A State Tournament, which will be held at Emporia Municipal Golf Course.
Qualifying individually for the Purple Dragons were juniors Samantha Maceli and Hannah Holloman. Maceli tied for seventh place at the De Soto Regional Tournament, held last Monday at Shawnee Golf and Country Club. Holloman was one of the last individual qualifiers from non-qualifying teams as she tied for 17th place overall.
The top three teams to qualify for state from the De Soto Regional were champion St. Thomas Aquinas, runner-up Blue Valley Southwest and third-place Lenexa-St. James. Pittsburg took fifth place in the regional standings.
Here are the official pairings for the entire field of the Class 5A State Tournament: