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Pitts qualifies for state golf tournament
By Joe Warren
Nevada Daily Mail
Nevada junior Tabitha Pitts shot 103 Monday at the district golf tournament in Bolivar, qualifying for the state golf tournament.
Pitts shot 49 on the front nine and 54 on the back, finishing 14th overall as an individual and first on the team at Bolivar's Silo Ridge Golf and Country Club.
The top 10 individuals qualify for state, but that is after the winning team is taken out of the equation. Sacred Heart shot a 377 to run away with the team title, and since they had all five golfers finishing toward the top of the standings individually, once they were taken out of the individual race, Pitts was able to qualify with the ninth best score.
As a team Nevada finished third in the district, 69 shots behind Sacred Heart and 15 shots behind second-place Clinton.
Emily Benbrook and Rachel Prewitt both finished with 114 on the 18-hole course, both having trouble with the fast greens at Silo Ridge.
Eleanor Horst was next with a 115, actually shooting below her average, and was followed by Aubrey Jones who shot 117.
For Jones it was above her average for the season, but it was also her first district tournament. The other golfers had been to district before.
The good news for Nevada is that most of the team will be back next year. Only Prewitt will be lost to graduation.
Pitts, Benbrook and Horst are currently juniors and Jones is a sophomore.
Nevada also has juniors Elisha Ellis and Kara Foster as well as freshman Vicky Reardon, who all played junior varsity this season.
Pitts is not yet done this season.
She will get to travel to Springfield for the state golf tournament being held at Deer Lake Golf Course on Oct. 18-19.
For Pitts the state qualifying berth was an exclamation mark for a season in which she was consistently battling Benbrook and Prewitt for the top spot on the team.
Pitts showed tremendous improvement over last season, cutting 50 shots from her district score of a year ago.
Pitts also was one of two golfers (Prewitt was the other) who made trips to Bolivar on her own to practice at Silo Ridge in preparation of the district tournament.
"She has worked hard all season and this is a great payoff for her," Nevada coach Kelly Gray said of Pitts' qualifying.
"Tabitha really has a great round."
As a team the Lady Tigers practiced at Silo Ridge once, but Monday the conditions were not as good as when Nevada played the course a week before.
This time there were blustery conditions and a chill in the air. Temperatures were mostly in the lower 70s during the round, but the sun was not shining.
Nevada did beat out Greenridge, Marshfield and Greenwood in the district tournament.
The individual medalist was Anne Beykirch of Sacred Heart, carding an 87.