Wawasee’s Courtney McDaniel and Concord’s Olivia Kauffman both look on with uncertainty at McDaniel’s shot on number nine Thursday evening. Both players finished with a 52. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – Wawasee had shots land in a wide variety of locations including the friendly fairways to the not-so-friendly bunkers. One ball was lost in a tree while another made its way to the bottom of a stream. Despite the scenic set backs Wawasee still managed to hold it together and post a score of 194 as well as pick up two wins, besting Concord (201) and Whitko (235) to move to 3-0 on the young season.

“We really did not play that well tonight. I would say we were average at best,” Warrior head coach Steve Coverstone called it like he saw it Thursday night.

“The girls struggled on the greens and with their bunker shots tonight. Our bunker play was bad yesterday so it is just something that we need to keep working on,” continued Coverstone.

To give an idea of just how rough the day was, of the 22 varsity and junior varsity players fielded by the three schools on Thursday there was only two birdies through the entire field.

One player that managed to finish a hole under par was Wawasee’s Elizabeth Jackson. The junior birdied the par five number three on her way to a final score of 48. The only other birdie on the day was one of Jackson’s opponents, McKenna Grimske. The Concord senior finished with a 49, which led her team and was highlighted by her birdie on number two.

The only other players to shoot under 50 were Wawasee sophomores Kamryn Foy and Mikala Mawhorter. Foy posted a solid 49, saving par on holes one and eight. Mawhorter rebounded from a shaky performance in Huntington by taking home medalist honors with a score of 45.

Wawasee’s Elizabeth Jackson goes for the green on number four at South Shore. Jackson finished with a 48 on the night.

Courtney McDaniel and Kylee Rostochak had their shares of ups and downs but both posted a 52 to help secure the team’s win.

As for the Wildcats, coach Bryan Sprunger is cutting his team a lot of slack knowing that this was just the first match of the season.

“We have a long way to go. We are missing a few of our girls here tonight so we have three freshmen playing and they have not had a lot of practice yet. We did some things well tonight from what I saw but there are still improvements to be made. Today was a good measuring stick,” stated Sprunger.

Whitko was led by April Bishop Thursday night. The Wildcat junior failed to save par on any hole but still posted a solid 52. Kennedy Krull was not far behind, posting a 58 in her first varsity match. Juniors Kirsten Crawford and Elizabeth Gensch posted a 71 and 64, respectively. Claire Reiff, another freshmen experiencing her first varsity action, finished the day with a 73.

The Wildcats (0-2) will aim for a lower score on Tuesday when they travel to Southern Wells for a non-conference match with first tee set for 4:30 p.m. Concord (1-1) and Wawasee both have some time to improve before they next play. The Minutemen will play in the East Noble Invite next Saturday, August 10, while the Warriors will host the Wawasee Invitational that day at South Shore GC starting at 9 a.m. Wawasee’s scheduled match against LaVille on Tuesday has been cancelled. The Warriors and Minutemen will meet later this season in a Northern Lakes Conference triangular match with Warsaw on Thursday September 5 at Bent Oak GC. Today’s match was a non-conference meeting for the two schools.

Kirsten Crawford of Whitko tees off on South Shore’s second tee.

In JV action, Wawasee topped Concord 164-181. Aubrey Schmeltz led the Warrior JV with a 53, Madison Beeman (54) and Megan Goralczyk (57) rounded out the junior varsity lineup on Thursday.

Whitko’s lone JV golfer was Aurelia Stephens who posted a 61 in her first high school match.