Indian girls golf takes second in season opener

Waukon’s girls golf team kicked off the 2005 season last Tuesday, April 5, notching 216 strokes to finish behind MFL-MarMac (209), but outshoot Postville (221) in a nonconference event at Tri-City Country Club near Luana.

The early season meet left Waukon coach Kathy McMillan hoping for the best with only limited practice time under her squad’s belt. “Going into play, we didn’t have much time for practice and I knew we wouldn’t score below 200. I’d been hoping for 210 but we ended up shooting a little higher. But, I told the girls there’s always a positive that comes out of a negative.”

The coach is not worried yet. She thinks her team will put in the necessary work to bring their scores down in the near future. “We’re a young team and I feel we have a lot to gain if we put forth the effort. Our scores will come down with practice. We just need to focus and work hard as a team,” McMillan noted. She added that her team’s focus will be on the short game, including putting.

All in all, McMillan feels her young squad gained much in the match. “I think a lot of the girls felt they learned a great deal. It’s always different playing on another course for the first meet.”

Leading the way for the Indians was Christie Dundee’s runner-up medalist score of 51. The junior was just one stroke off the low score of 50 shot by MFL’s Chelsea Kuenster.

Seniors Jodi Sweeney (54) and Leah Schellhammer (55) joined sophomore Lynsey Mellick (56) in rounding out the Tribe’s team score.

Sophomore Brianne Burke shot a 61 and junior Cassie Tysland scored a 63, as did senior Melissa Smed. Sophomore Tatum Norton (68) and junior Chelsey Meyer (70) rounded out the Indians’ roster for the night.

The Bulldogs posted the winning score of 209 after adding individual rounds of 50, 52, 52, and 55.

Postville’s third place effort included rounds of 53, 53, 55, and 60.

Although neither Postville or MFL-MarMac had enough athletes to yield a junior varsity score, McMillan still explained how scoring would be through parts of the season. “We’ll all go into the field with no one specified as varsity or junior varsity. The top four scores will count toward the varsity with the next best being added on JV. We’ll play this way until April 19,” she said.

The Indians were scheduled to host Waverly-Shell Rock earlier this week in Northeast Iowa Conference action. The Tribe will travel to Charles City this Friday, April 15 to meet the Comets in a 4 p.m. match. Next week, Waukon hosts Decorah Monday, April 18 at 4 p.m. and then travels to Caledonia Tuesday, April 19 for a 4:30 p.m. contest.