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Lady Tigers golf wins district championship, set for Sectionals
"I was pretty positive that we could either get first or second." Nevada Lady Tigers head golf coach Brian Leonard didn't even know who would make up the five-person team he was allowed to take into the district tournament until fairly late in the year, but still had little doubt that his squad could win its first district tournament in five seasons before the year even started.
The Lady Tigers went into the Class 1, District 4 tournament with a significant chip on their shoulders as they had finished second at districts in each of the last four seasons. Mount Vernon High School won three of those four tournaments and Sacred Heart took the other to keep the Lady Tigers out of the state tournament as a team.
Mount Vernon has been the major thorn in the side of the Lady Tigers as they have always been known for having a strong squad and have spent a number of years as Nevada's main competition at the district level. Thanks to that success, the Lady Mountaineers and Lady Tigers have found themselves in the middle of a heated rivalry.
"I don't know how we got such a rivalry, but we do," Leonard said. "The coach and I are good friends ... I kind of like it, but in the game of golf, it's a gentlemen and a ladies' game and you've got to be humble about it."
On top of that, the Lady Tigers finished 10-0 in match play with three first- and three second-place tournament finishes last year and followed that with a third-place showing in the Marshfield tournament this year and a 7-1 record in match play in the 2010 season. Leonard said the district championship simply "finished what we started" this season.
Thanks to new MSHSAA rules, the Lady Tigers didn't need to beat Mount Vernon to reach the Sectional round as a team this year, but that didn't take much edge off that rivalry. Those new rules allowed the top two teams to advance out of the district tournament, but the Lady Tigers still weren't satisfied with anything less than a district championship.
"I challenged the top five girls that they need to take five strokes off their game," Leonard said. "And if they could take five strokes off what they shot at Marshfield, we should be able to win districts."
The Lady Tigers did just that as sophomore Emmaly Ellis took nine strokes off her Marshfield score, senior Mariah Jones took two, and Ashley Shumaker and Morgan Turner each took seven. Thanks to those improvements, the Lady Tigers turned in an overall team score of 381, beating Mount Vernon for the tournament championship by three strokes.
"That right there is probably what let us win the district tournament against Mount Vernon," Leonard said of his squad's score cuts.
Of the four teams that will be in Wednesday's Class 1 Sectional tournament at Bolivar's Silo Ridge Golf and Country Club, the Lady Tigers posted the best overall score at the district level, but the top three are only separated by five strokes, making the Sectional round still very much up for grabs. The Lady Tigers will still take a substantial measure of confidence into the competition, however, since the top two teams will advance to the state championship, along with the top 12 individual finishers.
Silo Ridge is a much tougher course than what the Lady Tigers have been accustomed to playing on. The front nine holes are very open, but the back nine has several treacherous areas and is very tight with trees, providing some unique challenges that all of the day's participants will have to overcome, but the course itself should be very well-maintained, Leonard said.
"The course will be in great shape, I know that for a fact," he said. "The course has been in good shape all year."
Despite all the differences in layout that Silo Ridge provides, Leonard said the Lady Tigers will be keeping their routine and philosophy exactly what it has been all season long, with one notable exception. As he did prior to the district tournament, Leonard has pressured his team to keep a positive attitude and make sure the mental aspects of their game are up to par and to take another three strokes off their scores.
On top of making sure each player will keep her mind on the task at hand and not be bothered by outside or even internal influences, a major focal point has simply been to beat their playing partners. Each player on Leonard's squad will be placed with a player from each of the other three schools in the tournament and Leonard said the biggest key to victory will simply be to beat those other three players.
"In the game of golf, if they can beat their playing partners, we should win the tournament," he said.
The Lady Tigers have another piece of motivation that could either work substantially in their favor or could become a hindrance, depending on how each player handles the thought. This season would have been Emily DeBrine's senior year.
DeBrine was a member of the Lady Tigers golf team before she and Corey Martin were killed in a car accident in November 2008. Though Leonard and his players haven't talked as much about DeBrine's death as they did last season, that is still weighing heavily on their minds.
"We don't want to downplay it, but again, she's right there," Leonard said. "I mean, we know that she's looking over and it would mean a lot to all these girls. ... They know Emily, they've known Emily and I think it would be very emotional."
Leonard said that the team scores were too close in the district tournaments to be able to make much of a prediction about how his squad would do as a whole, but hopes are still high. At the very least, Leonard said, the Lady Tigers should qualify at least two players for the state tournament, but maintaining or slightly improving the scores they have already posted could mean a Sectional championship to add to the newest district plaque the Lady Tigers received just last week.
"If anybody shoots a 375, they will win it. Leonard said. "Realistically, I have a feeling the same score we shot at Marshfield; about 380, 381."