McCook girls claim North Platte golf crown

NORTH PLATTE -- The scores were a little higher from a week earlier, but the McCook High School girls still managed to bring home the team championship from the 2010 North Platte Invitational.

The competition was held Friday, Sept. 3, at the Iron Eagle Golf Course in North Platte.

The Bison girls had a low team total of 389 strokes in the 18-hole tournament. McCook beat Class A Millard West by six strokes for the team title. Another Class A squad, Papillion south, finished third at 409, followed by Sidney at 418.

McCook head coach Randy Ryser said the front nine on the North Platte course always deals his team fits, but he was pleased with the team victory despite somewhat inflated individual scores.

"We're sure never going to look down our nose at a win," Coach Ryser said. "But I think the kids probably thought maybe we might score a little better than we did. The course, the front nine just gives us fits year-in and year-out. We're going to take it and look forward to the next time."

Ryser said the Iron Eagle layout is relatively flat with some water, but the main challenge for his players are a large of number of trees all over the course with very narrow fairways.

"It's something that our kids are not accustomed to playing at Heritage Hills," Ryser said. "We can play big hooks, big fades at home that you can't there. You have to hit the ball very, very straight. It's something we don't see very often and it causes problems just seeing it once a year."

Samway wins gold medal

McCook sophomore Kaylee Samway did the best job of mastering the North Platte course last Friday. Samway won individual medalist honors with her 18-hole score of 89. Samway shot a 41 on the front nine and a 48 on the final nine holes.

"Kaylee Samway's 41 on the front nine there at Iron Eagle is a very, very good score, and she backed it up to win a gold medal," Ryser said. "That was just a great job by her."

Senior Shelby Allen finished fourth in the individual standings. Allen put together two rounds of 47 for an 18-hole score of 94. Coach Ryser said Allen played with a "gimpy shoulder," and she hung in for the fourth-place finish.

Taylor Hansen had a 56-47--103, and Megan Rokusek shot 51-52--103 for the two other individual McCook scores tallied for the team total. Megan Vetrovsky also competed and she finished with a 57-49--106.

In high school golf meets, the low four individual scores are added for a team total. Coach Ryser said Hansen's round was key for the Bison.

"A very important score was Taylor Hansen, playing in the fifth position, we counted her score," Ryser said. "Megan Vetrovsky (a freshman), seeing the course for first time and all those trees and water, she struggled. But the next time out she'll just be dynamite."

Home meet Sept. 9

McCook has its final home meet of the season Thursday, Sept. 9, when North Platte comes to town for a nine-hole dual meet at the Heritage Hills Golf Course starting at 4 p.m.

The Bison girls will enter the Lexington Invite Friday at the Lakeside Golf Course, located on the southern edge of Johnson Lake approximately 10 miles south of Lexington on highway 283. The 18-hole competition gets underway at 9:30 a.m. with tee times on four different holes on the Johnson Lake course.

Ryser expects 11 or 12 schools to enter, including several Class B teams from the eastern part of the state.

"We'll get to see some teams from Grand Island east, like Aurora, Hastings, Grand Island Northwest and Superior, some schools we don't see all the time. It kind of give you an idea of what's happening in that part of the state."

Ryser said his team doesn't set goals for team scores in invitational meets. Instead, the Bison will shoot for individual best efforts.

"Well, if we play well (team honors will follow)," Ryser said. "We just kind of let that take care of itself. I don't know what kind of teams are back in that part of the state -- that's why we're going to go play on Friday."

NORTH PLATTE INVITATIONAL

Team Standings

Top 10 Individual Medalists

McCook Individual Scores