CARTHAGE, Mo. — In just a week’s time, the Carthage High School girls golf team has won three straight tournaments.
The host Tigers claimed the team championship at the 11th annual eCarthage.com Invitational on Monday at the Carthage Golf Course.
Carthage finished with a team score of 371, six strokes better than runner-up Nevada.
“I feel really good about how they performed today,” Carthage coach James Newman said. “They played up to their own expectations. It was windy, and it was kind of a challenging day out there, so I was proud of them for meeting that challenge.”
Carthage is off to a stellar start to the 2021 season. The Tigers won two events last week, the Carl Junction Invitational at Briarbrook and the Joplin Invitational at Schifferdecker.
In addition to a runner-up finish at Seneca, Carthage also claimed top honors in the two-day Papa John’s Challenge.
“Some of them played in some junior tournaments over the summer and that’s helped,” Newman said. “They put positive pressure on each other in practice, which is good. And they’re very encouraging to each other in practice.”
Nevada finished second to Carthage on Monday with a 377 after edging the Tigers earlier this month at the Seneca Invitational.
“I told the girls if they can all shoot below 100 we’ll win tournaments,” Nevada coach Brian Leonard said. “If we would have done that today we would have won here. But I was really pleased with how they played today.”
Nevada freshman Emree Cameron earned individual medalist honors by carding a 1-over-par 72. Cameron made par on nine holes, and she had three birdies to go along with an eagle on No. 13.
Cameron, who also finished on top of the leaderboard at Seneca and Joplin, was 2-over on the front nine and 1-under on the back nine.
“She’s been playing really well,” Leonard said of Cameron. “She played really well all summer and she’s carried that over into the season. She’s got a long tee ball. Her distance is incredible. We’re working on getting her short game dialed in. And I was really pleased with Riley Severance’s 95 today, too.”
Carthage senior Hailey Bryant was the tourney’s runner-up with a 4-over-par 75.
Bryant, who was 2-over on both the front and back nine, made par on nine holes and had four birdies.
Bryant was the top finisher at the season-opening Papa John’s Challenge and was also the medalist at last week’s Carl Junction invite. She finished second at Seneca’s tournament and took third at Joplin’s invite.
It’s safe to say the returning state-qualifier is off to a solid start to the fall campaign.
“She’s gotten better in every tournament,” Newman said of Bryant. “She just shot her best ever score today of 75. She keeps climbing the hill. She’s not allowing herself to plateau. We’re moving closer to conference, districts and state, and I know she wants to be peaking at the right time of the season.”
Cassville’s Avery Chappell placed third with an 81, Webb City’s Sydney French finished fourth with a 91 and Nevada’s Severance was fifth with a 95.
Carthage’s Aubri Fisher shot a 96 to take sixth place, while teammate Caitlin Derryberry carded 97 to finish seventh to give the hosts three of the top seven scores.
McDonald County’s Kyla Moore shot a 97 to place eighth, while Joplin’s Lindsey Belnap finished ninth with a 98. Belnap had an eagle on hole No. 11. Monett’s Claire Nation (99) rounded out the top 10.
Webb City’s Laya McAllister took 12th (100) and Joplin’s Drew Yockey was 13th (101). Nevada’s Paige Hertzberg finished 14th (102) and Carthage’s Ava Lacey was 15th (103). Seneca’s Madison Babbitt shot a 103 to finish 16th and Carl Junction’s Anna Burch was 17th (108).
There were 10 teams in attendance.
Local golf teams will compete in Nevada on Friday at the Frank E. Peters Golf Course.
e.Carthage.com Invitational
CARTHAGE (371) — Hailey Bryant 75, Aubri Fisher 96, Caitlin Derryberry 97, Ava Lacey 103, Shay Gaddis 114.
NEVADA (377) — Emree Cameron 72, Riley Severance 95, Paige Hertzberg 102, Libby Barrett 108, Katie Pennington 109.
WEBB CITY (415) — Sydney French 91, Laya McAllister 100, Jacie Crouch 111, Sophia Coulson 113, Langlee Walker 125.
JOPLIN (417) — Lindsey Belnap 98, Drew Yockey 101, Sophia Schwartz 109, Kenna Haley 109, Chloe Friend 125.
MOUNT VERNON (435) — Kenadi Killingsworth 100, Reese Barrett 109, Madi Phillips 112, Madalyn Cook 114.
MCDONALD COUNTY (441) — Kyla Moore 97, Fayth Ogden 110, Lundyn Trudeau 116, Jolie Stipp 118, Kelsie Lilly 119.
CARL JUNCTION (448) — Anna Burch 108, Rylee Sprague 111, Chloe Mitchell 114, Olivia Teeter 115, Alex Teeter 121.
MONETT (483) — Claire Nation 99, Alondra Areolla 119, Katie Geiss 128, Anna Krueger 137.
CASSVILLE — Avery Chappell 81, Gracie Harrison 119, Riley Morris 123.
INDIVIDUALS — Madison Babbitt 103, Britany Adcock 116, Maddie Schubert 125, Courtnee Bishop 128, ZZ Huertas-Zevaleta 131.
