Girls golf takes first at district preview

The girls golf team took first place at the district preview held at the Middlefield Golf Course in Cottage Grove on Tuesday, April 21.

Sisters finished with a team score of 337, followed by runner-up Marist, who came in 58 strokes back at 395. Cottage Grove placed third (423), La Pine fourth (428) and Sweet Home and Creswell both had incomplete teams.

Shelby Ross turned in another personal best and led the Lady Outlaws with a score of 37-37-74.

"Shelby was just on fire," said Coach Mary Flande. "She had her game firing on all cylinders. It's great to see a player have such a great day. I couldn't be prouder of her."

Emily Rawls carded an 87. Rawls started on the ninth hole and finished the back nine with a 47. Emily came back and bettered her score by seven on the front nine to finish with a 40 and an overall score of 87.

"I'm really proud of how Emily recovered from a shaky start," said Flande. "This can be difficult but she rose to the challenge and certainly played well on the second nine. Emily is playing some pretty good golf right now."

Both Hannah Harrer and Stephanie Cole shot an 88, career bests for both. Paige Stevens shot a 113 and Trish Erickson finished with a 123, also career bests.

Flande said, "These girls are getting better every week. I'm excited to see the improvement with every tournament. They are playing in their first year of varsity golf and stepping up to the challenge each week. One of their goals is to play well at district and earn a spot at the state tournament. If these kids continue to work hard and really focus on their short game I think they have a good chance of meeting this goal."

The Lady Outlaws' next match will be at Broken Top on Thursday, April 30.