Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Kimball's Payton Wise finished 3rd in the individual standings at the Class C District Tournament held in Ogallala Monday and will represent her school and team at the State Tournament in North Platte. She shares a hug and a smile with coach Luke Maas as she proudly holds up her District medal.
Kimball High's Payton Wise is headed to the Nebraska Girl's Class C State Golf Tournament! In her first year of High School golf, the talented young freshman, finished in 3rd place in the individual top ten medal group at Monday's Class C District Tournament held at Ogallala. In District play, the top 3 teams and top 10 individuals qualify to advance to the State Tournament play.
You readers may recall that a couple of weeks back, on this same course, Payton shot her highest round of the season carding a 112, but she came ready to play this time around shooting 41-46=87 to earn her 3rd place medal. The best possible start a golfer could wish for would be a hole-in-one and Payton almost did the trick as she stroked a nice high fade on the 147 yard 1st hole that landed about 6 foot in front of the pin, took a forward roll, hit the pin and stopped about 4 foot from the hole. No, she missed her birdie putt, but got the par. She birdied the next hole and was off to a great start.
As exciting as it was for Payton to qualify for the State Tournament, it was disappointing to Payton, the rest of the team, and coach Luke Maas, that the Lady Longhorns failed to qualify as a team. "The girls were very nervous today and that showed with how the girls came out early. We had our struggles on a tough course, but ultimately we just didn't eliminate enough of the mental mistakes" Maas said.
"Obviously we are disappointed that we didn't make it as a team, but we will take this one on the chin and continue to work on our games with more hope for next year. Our two seniors Sheridan Magninie and Lacey Klinkhammer were great teammates and leaders for our team this year, and as a first year coach, I can't begin to thank them enough for willingly taking on that role" Maas said.
Coach Maas went on to say "I am very happy and excited for Payton and proud of her for accomplishing one of her goals this year. I am confident that she will represent herself and our team well down at State. We are hoping for a good week of practice and good weather as we shift our focus into putting two good rounds on the card at North Platte".
Kimball's other golfers and how they fared were Carli Wurdeman 58-57=115, Raven Johnson 61-56=117, Sheridan Magninie 58-65=123, and Sam Bemis 68-58=126. Kimball finished 5th in the team standings with a score of 442.
Ogallala won the team top honor with their round of 351 and had the low individual medalist in Harley Hiltibrand, a junior, with her round of 71 on her home course. Kenzey Kanno from Mitchell finished 2nd in the individual standings with her round of 77 and is a senior for the Lady Tiger team. Bridgeport qualified as a team taking 2nd place with 396 and Mitchell was 3rd with 400. The balance of the team scoring saw Valentine at 414, Kimball 442, Dundy County Stratton 495, Gordon-Rushville 501, Perkins County 545, Southwest 555, Bayard 587.
The State Class C Tournament will be held at the Rivers Edge Golf Course in North Platte, which was the old Country Club course, on Monday-Tuesday, October 8 and 9, weather permitting.
The weather forecast is calling for possible snow and cold conditions, and already there has been talk of possibly moving the tournament dates back so stay tuned for this possible announcement.
