After winning the team’s first-ever Columbia River Conference title last week, Hood River Valley High School’s four-player girls golf team moved on to the state championships this week at Quail Valley Golf Course in Banks.
The combination of long fairways, variable weather and tough competition was a challenge for the girls, even though three of the four had competed at the same tournament the previous two seasons. After a first-round score of 433 that put them in ninth place out of 11 teams, the girls all improved their scores the second day to finish in eigth overall with a total score of 823 – the best result the HRV girls team has had at the state tournament.
Korey Cimock:
100, 92 (+48), 25th
Alisha Hay:
104, 96 (+56), t31st
Laura Waller:
112, 95 (+63), t38th
Gabriella Whitehead:
117, 107 (+80), t46th
Korey Cimock led the team with scores of 100 and 92, good enough to put her in 25th overall at 48 over par for the two days. Alisha Hay followed with 56 over par (104, 96), Laura Waller was next at 63 over (112, 95) and Gabriella Whitehead had rounds of 117 and 107 for 80 over.
As expected, Summit High School dominated the contest to take the team title by 33 strokes over Crescent Valley and 62 strokes over third place Bend. Summit’s Madison Odiorne, a sophomore, won the individual title with a first round score of 77 — five over par — and a second round performance with six birdies that put her at one over par after the 18th hole.
The result was about as well as the team had hoped since, without a fifth player, the girls had little room for error. Pendleton, the other CRC team to qualify for the tournament, edged the HRV girls by one stroke to slip into the seventh-place slot, an ironic result because the Buckaroos edged Hermiston by a single stroke in the CRC championship to advance to state and end Hermiston’s season.
For Waller, a senior, this season was her first and last on the HRV team; for the others – all juniors – next year looks to be promising if the three and coach Dave Waller can recruit a few new players and get them swinging straight in time for next year’s championship rounds.
Commented