The Newton girls golf team fought off some rust yesterday in its first 18-hole meet of the season to secure a team victory at Pleasant Valley golf course in Iowa City. The Cardinals shot a 415, putting them ahead of Muscatine (438) and Iowa City (441).
The Cardinals have had multiple meets canceled in the past two weeks, and severe weather conditions have also hindered practice time. Coach Scott Enyart was proud of the girls, and despite their lack of quality practice time on an actual course, the team is playing well as a whole to this point in the season.
“It was really nice to be able to play on an actual golf course for the first time in almost three weeks,” Enyart said. “The girls learned a lot today, and they all agreed that although they’re not frustrated with their performance, they’re also not totally satisfied with it.”
Pleasant Valley is a par-72 golf course that is laden with water hazards and trees throughout the course. This was the first time the girls have played the course, but given that fact, they avoided trouble pretty well. And when they found themselves in trouble, they were able to right the ship fairly quickly.
Madeline Wellik had the low round for the Cardinals. She shot a 102 with a 51 on both nines. Her round was very consistent, she struggled on some of the front nine holes, but it didn’t take her long to get back into a comfortable position with her swing. She took third place at the meet.
Jessica Reynolds and Bailey Kellogg tied for fourth. They both shot 104. Kellogg’s highlight of the day occurred on the par-3 13th hole. She hit a pitching wedge into the wind and stuck it five feet from the hole, and she was able to make par from there. Reynolds birdied hole five after a solid tee shot and a stellar approach.
“Bailey was more consistent on the front nine. She got off track early on, but she was able to avoid trouble on holes one through nine,” Enyart said. “I really liked the way she bounced back. It was pretty much the same situation for Jessica as well.”
The final counting scores belonged to Shelby Cochran and Madigan Hillyard. Cochran and Hillyard both shot 105s and tied for sixth place at the meet. Cochran had her highlight of the day on hole 16, on which she had her first career birdie. She followed that up with another birdie on 18.
“Shelby struggled early,” Enyart said. “Holes two and six were trouble holes for her, but she was able to bounce back as well, and I’m proud of the way she finished the round. All the girls got into trouble at one time or another, but they all recovered well. There was a lot of perseverance out there today.”
Newton’s next meet is scheduled for today at Norwalk.