Center Grove’s Camille Short smiles during Saturday’s round at Prairie View.
Sam Findley | For the Daily Journal
CARMEL
Given its long ride back to the southernmost part of the state, Castle took home the runner-up trophy brought to Prairie View Golf Club on Saturday.
Center Grove will soon receive one just like it.
The Trojans and Knights tied for second place at the 50th annual state finals, each squad unable to shake free from the other during back nine play on Saturday and finishing with two-day scores of 643.
Carmel notched its third title, a score of 629 good enough to join the 1980 and 2013 Greyhounds teams at the top of the summit.
Center Grove, a 15-time state finalist since 1996, eclipsed its previous best state finish, the third-place effort to cap the 2000 season. It was the Trojans’ 10th top-10 showing.
“Really, we’re holding on there at the end,” said fifth-year CG coach Cale Hoover, whose club led Carmel by three strokes following Friday’s first round. “I think mentally exhausted as much as anything. It was a really difficult two days, but I’m really proud of the way we persevered.
“Just a big step forward for the program. Those trophies are so hard to get, and so special. We’ve got a lot of players coming back, so we’ve got to build off of.”
Two Johnson County golfers made the awards podium as individuals.
Franklin freshman Lexi Ray tied for sixth overall, following her first-round 81 with a 74 on Saturday for an 11-over-par total of 155. Sage Parsetich, the lone senior in Center Grove’s starting five, tied for 10th place, shooting 76-80—156.
“Today, going in, I just wanted 18 pars. That’s what I told myself,” said Ray, laughing. “I was like, ‘I’m just going to play golf. Play like it needs to be played.’ I started off strong, had a few lip-outs, but overall, I’m very satisfied with how I played.
“(Friday) I kind of freaked out a little. It was my first state tournament. Today, I knew how the greens were going to be, and how the wind was going to react. I just felt a lot better.”
While Ray looks forward to the opportunity to make future visits to state — preferably with the Grizzly Cubs qualifying as a team — Parsetich, who’ll play next season as a freshman at Indiana Wesleyan, was teary-eyed as she walked off the 18th green.
The emotions, she said, began to kick in while she was playing the 16th hole.
“I tried not to think about that just because I probably would have started crying, and that would’ve made it worse,” Parsetich said. “So I just started thinking about other stuff to get my mind off of that. I knew going in that we could definitely be top three as a team, and knowing that we were, it makes me so proud of (my teammates).
“They’ve grown so much this season. It’s amazing.”
The four juniors comprising the rest of the Center Grove lineup were led by Camille Short tying for 20th individually at 80-81—161. Lexi Stuart (88-77—165) tied for 28th, while Rowen Pfeifle (82-86—168) had the 40th spot to herself and Abby Rich (81-91—172) tied for 44th.
Following a four-year state finals dry spell, Center Grove returned in 2020, tying Noblesville for eighth in the team standings with then-ninth-graders Short and Rich as part of the lineup.
Last season, the Trojans held onto eighth by themselves.
“We went from my freshman year just being ecstatic to make it here to having expectations of winning,” Short said. “This is a huge experience for us. It’s our third trip here, and now we expect more.
“We know we have four starters coming back who have played here, and experience can only help at a place like this.”
