Lady Raiders runners-up in state golf

photo Baylor golfer Danielle Bates hits an approach into the 18th green of Willowbrook Golf Course on Tuesday in the Division II-AA state championship. The Lady Raiders placed runner-up.
photo Baylor sophomore Chase Roswall hits his tee shot on No. 18 of Willowbrook Golf Course in the Division II-AA state championship on Tuesday. Teammate Oliver Simonsen watches in the background.
photo Baylor junior Oliver Simonsen hits his tee shot on No. 18 of Willowbrook Golf Course in the Division II-AA state championship on Tuesday.

MANCHESTER, Tenn. -- The scoring tent flipped over and hats flew off heads all day during the Division II-AA state golf tournament at Willowbrook Golf Course.

The wind impacted everybody Tuesday with one exception.

St. Agnes senior Abby Heck shot a 1-under-par 143 for two days to win the individual title and lead the Stars to the girls' team championship by seven shots over runner-up Baylor.

"There was a wild card out of Memphis that we didn't account for," Baylor coach Gary Partrick said. "To go around this course in these conditions at 1 under is remarkable.

"St. Agnes won the state championship. We didn't give it away."

Baylor junior Katherine Holmes tied sophomore teammate Tia Teiniketo for runner-up in the medalist race. Each shot 16-over 160, and Danielle Bates tied for fifth at 167 even though her score did not count.

"We have three of the top five scores and that's still not good enough," Partrick said. "Our girls played good, but it wasn't good enough."

Girls Preparatory School tied for third at 344 with Ensworth. GPS senior Emily Blake tied for fifth with her 167 and junior Mary Melissa Manuel placed ninth with a 177.

"They all got a Scottish experience," said GPS coach Rob Riddle, referring to the windy conditions with gusts that topped 25 mph. "We were fourth last year, so we're moving in the right direction."

Holmes, who helped the Lady Raiders win the state title a year ago, shot 81 on Monday and 79 on Tuesday. Teiniketo shot a 78, then an 82.

"I think we could have done better, but I'm glad we placed second," Holmes said. "There's nothing we could have done to prepare for this weather."

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Blake, a senior, moved up from ninth place last year to a tie for fifth. She shot an 85 in her last round as a high school golfer.

"It was hard today, but it was really fun," she said. "This is my third time to state, and I moved up each time. That's cool, too."

Despite the wind, the Baylor boys' team shaved 13 strokes from its first-round total and moved up to a fourth-place finish at 627. Memphis University School repeated as team champion with a 23-over 599. MUS won last year at 588.

Baylor sophomore Gavin Roberson shot two rounds of 77 and tied for eighth individually. Brock Ochsenreiter of Ensworth beat Goodman Rudolph of MUS in a sudden-death playoff that lasted five holes. They had the only two sub-par rounds of the tournament.

"We wanted the low round of the day, not the third lowest round of the day," Partrick said. "We had a few hiccups, but that's going to happen in this weather."

Each of the Raiders shot from 76 to 80 in the windy conditions. Oliver Simonsen shot their low round of the tournament with a 76.

"We waited to see if anybody would fall back to us and nobody did, so we'd have to gamble more on the back nine," Partrick said. "We took some greedy lines and some didn't pay off.

"This is the biggest stage of the year, and on one of the two days we didn't perform very well."

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

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