The depth that Center Grove’s girls golf team viewed as a strength coming into the season paid big dividends at The Legends on Monday.
Lauren Pagel shot a 77 out of the fourth spot in the lineup, leading the seventh-ranked Trojans to an 11-stroke victory over rival Franklin and a repeat championship at the Whiteland Sectional.
Center Grove finished with a team score of 327, with the Grizzly Cubs at 338. Both advance to Saturday’s Roncalli Regional at Smock along with third-place Perry Meridian (377).
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
“You always want to take home the trophy,” Center Grove coach Cale Hoover said. “The scores are the scores, but you always want that trophy to go home, so that was great.
“It’s actually the best score we’ve shot here the last two years here … and we still have room to grow.”
Pagel played the front nine at even par and added a five-over-par 41 on the back side. Her score trailed only individual medalist Kathleen Ameis of Roncalli, who shot a 75 to punch her own regional ticket.
“A lot of my irons were working,” Pagel said. “I was hitting a lot of greens, I was hitting a lot of fairways and my putts were close; they didn’t all go in, but overall it was a pretty solid day.”
Getting Pagel’s 77 on the board after Lanie DeHaven carded an 82 in the No. 5 spot put Center Grove comfortably ahead, and that lead held throughout. Maddie Heineman added an 81 for the Trojans, followed by Meg Fosnot at 87 and Hope Davis at 88.
The Grizzly Cubs had two of the top four individual scores with Liv Parramore’s 79 and Ellie Beavins’ 80, but they couldn’t keep pace with Center Grove all the way down the lineup. Ava Ray (89) and Carly Woodward (90) rounded out the Franklin scoring.
“You’re not going to shoot your modal score, your average score every single time,” Franklin coach Chris Kacarab said. “There’s going to be highs, there’s going to be lows, and today happened to be one of those high days. We’ll just chalk it up to a bad day, and likely, hopefully, there won’t be two in a row.”
Whiteland was sixth with a 432, led by rounds of 99 from Allie Watson and Kierra Mitchell.
Greenwood just missed out on a regional spot coming out of the New Palestine Sectional at The Links Golf Club. The Woodmen tied New Palestine and Pendleton Heights for second with a team score of 368, but got bumped down to fourth when the fifth individual scores were used to break the tie.
Maecee Terhune paced the Woodmen with an 85, while Maura Guilfoy and Maeci West shot 88 and 93, respectively.
Greenwood Christian was ninth with a 448, led by Ashtyn Witte (90) and Sophia Valant (96).
In the Bloomington North Sectional at Cascades, Indian Creek’s Jacqui Button advanced out with a 91. The Braves finished fifth as a team at 404, eight shots back of the third and final regional berth. Edinburgh was seventh at 436, led by Morgan Calhoun’s 97.
For Center Grove and Franklin, the focus shifts to the weekend — and trying to survive a regional that includes five of the state’s top 11 teams and seven of the top 20.
Pagel said that getting a win over the Grizzly Cubs on Monday certainly helps set the tone for the Trojans.
“It feels really good; it feels like a lot of momentum going into regionals,” she said. “Obviously, we’re going to need to put up a good score to make it to the state finals, but it just feels really good to have some momentum going into Saturday.”
