Center Grove’s Camille Short tees off during the county golf tournament at The Legends.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
After a somewhat rough finish to her front nine, Camille Short knew that she was playing catch-up in her quest to be the individual medalist at Wednesday’s Johnson County tournament.
The Center Grove senior responded to the challenge, carding a 33 on her back side to finish the day with a 1-under-par 71.
It wasn’t quite enough to catch Franklin sophomore Lexi Ray, who was the low individual with a round of 70, but Short’s performance did help the Trojans maintain team supremacy at The Legends. The state’s third-ranked team totaled 295, good enough to beat the host Grizzly Cubs by a dozen shots.
“I love competing, and I feel like Lexi and I were getting into a head-to-head battle,” Short said. “That just kept me focused throughout the round.”
Short had plenty of help on the day, as the Trojans accounted for four of the five spots on the all-tournament team. Rowen Pfeifle carded a 74, while Lexi Stuart and Ellie Adkisson each added a 75. Magnolia Miller shot a 78.
According to coach Cale Hoover, it was the lowest team score that Center Grove had ever put up at the course.
“When you throw out a 78, you obviously played well,” Hoover said, adding that Miller put up a 37 on the back nine. “Obviously, it’s something we always want to win; just local pride. But we’ll keep looking down the road and get prepared for the big stuff.”
Ray wasn’t as accurate off the tee and in the fairway as she would have liked, but she found ways to keep her score low.
“It was just a constant battle out there,” she said. “Normally, I’m anywhere from 16 greens, 14 greens a round, and today I had 11. … I’m just glad that I pulled through.”
Kara Heuchan finished with a 78 out of the No. 5 spot for ninth-ranked Franklin, followed closely by Addie Livorno (79), Reese Phillips (80) and Addi Bright (83).
Though the Grizzly Cubs didn’t win, it was hard to be upset with the overall number.
“We’re building our momentum going into the second half of the season,” Franklin co-coach Crystal Morse said. “As a team, I think we’re happy; we know where we need to improve at, and we’re looking forward to the second half, for sure.”
In the battle for third place, Gracie Gasaway’s 87 and Emma Baker’s 94 helped Greenwood post a total of 395, eclipsing Whiteland by four strokes. The Warriors got a 92 from Chloe Cooper and 94 from Kylie McGovern.
Greenwood Christian was fifth with a 408, led by an 84 from Taylor Harris. Indian Creek (447) was sixth, with Allison Vavul’s 105 leading a balanced lineup, while Macie Blandford’s 95 and Izzy Richardson’s 97 paced Edinburgh (466).
The tournament was originally scheduled for a 1 p.m. start but moved up to 7:30 a.m. due to the forecasted heat. Conditions were far cooler in the early going than they were as the day wore on; by the time the final five groups — which included players from Center Grove, Franklin and Whiteland — were wrapping up, the heat index had pushed well past 90 degrees.
“Obviously, that’s part of the coaching,” Morse said. “Making sure they’re hydrated, their nutrition is adequate to kind of sustain them through the finish.”
Though temperatures were manageable for most of the round, Short said that she “was definitely glad we started early.”
For the Trojans and Grizzly Cubs, the strong performances were an ideal lead-in to Saturday’s Hall of Fame Classic, which will feature 19 of the top 20 teams in the state and will also be contested at The Legends.
Any county teams that can advance out of sectional play will be back on this same layout for the regional a month from now, too.
“We play this course so much,” Hoover said. “It’s not quite like going to Hickory Stick, but it’s about as close as you can get. We’re here, we’re comfortable. These guys are so experienced that they take care of their business, so they make our jobs as coaches pretty easy.”
