Center Grove’s Lexi Stuart hits out of a bunker during state finals play on Saturday.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
CARMEL
Center Grove came into the state finals rightfully believing it could win a state championship, but that didn’t make its fifth-place team finish a disappointment.
The Trojans posted a team score of 317 in Saturday’s final round, its lowest single-day state total, and finished the two-day tourney at Prairie View Golf Club with a 642, nestled between Noblesville (fourth at 635) and Floyd Central (sixth at 653).
“Today was a round that’s more reflective of who we are,” Center Grove coach Cale Hoover said. “We talked about shooting our best round that we’ve shot here … despite having some people definitely not having their ‘A’ games. So I’m very proud.”
Franklin, appearing in the state finals for the first time since 1999, shot 337 on Saturday and landed in eighth place with a two-round total of 667. Carmel (608) outdueled Westfield (617) to win the team title.
Westfield’s Samantha Brown (68-74—142) was the individual champion, finishing four strokes clear of the field.
Center Grove’s balance was on display, as the players who struggled in Friday’s opening round wound up leading the way on Saturday. Senior Ellie Adkisson bounced back from a first-round 89 to shoot even par on Saturday’s front nine en route to a 79; likewise, junior Magnolia Miller went from 88 to 78.
“It felt really good,” Miller said. “I shot 1 over on the front, so it was definitely a good confidence booster, and then 10 better than yesterday overall, so I feel better about today. There’s definitely a lot that I left out there, but it was a good improvement.”
Senior Camille Short also carded a 79 on Saturday for the Trojans, finishing the weekend alone in 34th place with a two-day total of 163. Classmates Lexi Stuart (76-82—158) and Rowen Pfeifle (77-81—158) tied for 24th on the individual leaderboard.
Hoover had hoped to move up into the top four and onto the podium for the second year in a row, but none of the teams in front of them gave anything back.
The Grizzly Cubs, meanwhile, entered the second round in sixth place and were still there two-thirds of the way through before faltering a bit down the stretch and losing ground to Floyd Central and seventh-place Penn.
“Really the whole season, we’ve had a struggle down our finishing stretch,” Franklin co-coach Crystal Morse said. “That’s been a consistent pattern pretty much for this whole season, and it’s not going to change at Prairie View at state. It’s a challenging course, and those tough finishing holes rang true.”
Still, the team was happy to place above its regular-season state ranking (ninth), especially with a younger lineup that was led by a pair of sophomores.
Lexi Ray finished the weekend as the county’s top individual, tying for 18th (79-77—156) despite enduring a frustrating two days on the greens. Ray had 77 putts in the tournament, including 40 on Saturday.
“I hit the ball the best I probably could have hit it all year,” Ray said, “and then I got to the green and kind of just had a panic attack. But that’s golf. Now I know what I need to work on going into next year.”
Fellow sophomore Addi Bright tied for 26th, shooting a second-round 81 to end the weekend at 159. Senior Addie Livorno (88-87—175) and Reese Phillips (85-92—177) rounded out the Franklin scorecard.
The two county rivals will go into 2024 in very different positions. The Grizzly Cubs have three of their top four players returning, while Center Grove will need to work in some new varsity talent with four of its five starters graduating.
Hoover had plenty of praise for his departing seniors, a group that includes one four-year starter in Short and two others (Stuart and Pfeifle) who played in three state finals.
“They have been a dream,” the coach said. “They’ll be greatly missed, and they changed the expectations, the culture, what it means to be a Trojan golfer for us, and so we can’t thank them enough. It’s been a special group.”
Morse, meanwhile, looks forward to what she hopes is a bright future for the Grizzly Cubs.
“We’ve got some good girls coming up,” she said, “and I just think they need to use this, our underclassmen, as an experience and say, ‘How can I get better from here?’ And hopefully they can come back and tackle it next year.”
