Highland girls golf finishes busy stretch with matches at Belk Park and Rolling Hills
A busy stretch for the Highland girls golf team started with a weekend trip to Alton for a tournament and then ended in Alton on Sept. 15 with a dual match loss against Alton.
On Sept. 12, the Lady Bulldogs began the challenging stretch of three events in four days by competing in the Alton Invitational Tournament at Rolling Hills Golf Course.
Highland finished 11th place with a score of 393 in a tough tournament field that included the likes of O’Fallon, Edwardsville, Triad, and Belleville East.
“They played really well there,” Highland coach Ashey DeSelm said. “Last year I think we were in like in the 400’s for that tournament, so breaking 400 is a great day.
Claire Korte led Highland with a top score of 87 followed by Lilly Barker with (101), Brooke Hunsche (103), Maddie Noeltner (102) and Hannah Wilkes-Null (117).
“I was very proud of my girls,” DeSelm said. “They worked hard for those scores.”
O’Fallon won the tournament, shooting 316. Edwardsville took second place with a 322, and Alton Marquette rounded out the too three finishers in third place with a 322. Highland finished seven strokes behind 10th place Columbia, which shot a 386.
“There were a lot of big schools in that tournament, so I’m proud of where we stood and I know the outcome of the place (we finished) isn’t ideal, but those girls worked hard and that’s all I can ask of them,” the HHS coach said.
On Sept. 14, the Lady Bulldogs traveled to Belk Park Golf Course in Wood River to take on Alton Marquette, Triad, Civic Memorial, and host Roxana in a five-team match. Highland narrowly missed third place as it finished two shots behind third place Civic Memorial, shooting a 199.
“The Belk Park match, I was hoping we would have a little bit of better scores but I had to bring three JV girls with me (due to players being out with COVID-19),” DeSelm said.
HHS finished fourth with a 199. Korte shot a 41 to pace the Lady Bulldogs. Barker shot a 52 followed by Hunsche (50), Noeltner (56), Wilkes-Null (63), and Meguire (59) to round out the scoring.
“Claire had a really great round of 41 and Brooke had a great round shooting 50 and she’s so close to getting in the 40 mark and I’m really proud of her,” DeSelm said. “Lilly, we have some work to do. She’s really wanting to get into the 40’s and her driver’s a little off right now, so we just need to work on that.”
Busy stretch of golf for Highland concludes back in Alton
The Lady Bulldogs finished out the week Sept. 15 back at Rolling Hills in Alton with a dual match against the Redbirds.
Alton slipped past HHS for a 174-194 win. The day had a bright spot for Highland as the Lady Bulldogs shot close to their season low of 190.
Korte paced HHS with a 40 followed by Barker (52), Hunsche (50), Noeltner (54) and Wilkes-Null (52).
“The girls played really well and Alton is really strong this year,” DeSelm said. “It’s really great to see these girls getting better at their scores and they’re working hard.”
HHS hopes to utilize time off
The Lady Bulldogs now have almost a week off before competing in the O‘Fallon Invitational at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, at Tamarack Golf Course in Shiloh.
Before that happens Highland will be putting in plenty of practice in preparation for the tournament.
“We are going to work hard on chipping and putting and get that under control,” DeSelm said. “Some of the girls need to hit a (driving range) so I’m going to see if we can get out to a driving range to really focus on their swings and get their tempos on track and everything.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 6:46 PM.