Jay 5th with flurry of career bests (08/05/2008)

RICHMOND - The standard has been set. And it's high.

All five members of the Jay County High School girls golf team posted career-best 18-hole scores at Highland Lake Golf Course Monday as the squad opened the season with a fifth-place finish at the Richmond Invitational.

The Patriots finished at 392, 12 strokes behind fourth-place Olympic Athletic Conference rival Connersville and 30 in front of sixth-place New Castle.

They improved on last year's score at Richmond by 47 strokes - only one golfer shot better than 110 - and surpassed 2007's best 18-hole score by eight strokes.

The host Red Devils, who closed the 2007 season ranked ninth in the state, won by 43 strokes over Hagerstown with a 308. Trish Witherby shot 2-under-par 70 to lead Richmond, which had four of the top five scores.

Senior Jennifer Hunt set the pace for Jay County, which finished 10th out of 13 teams in the tournament last season.

Hunt, who missed qualifying for the regional tournament last season by just two strokes, shot 48 on the front nine at Highland Lakes and 46 on the back for a 94. She birdied the 513-yard, par-5 third hole to go along with one par and nine bogies.

The round was a career-best for Hunt by three strokes, over last year's sectional effort. Other career-best scores on the day came by six strokes for Ivy Simons, nine for Cara Garringer, 17 for Macey Gerber and 27 for Abby Denney.

Simons knocked down back-to-back pars on the 165-yard, par-3 second hole and the third as she totaled four in her round of 95. Garringer parred the fifth, seventh and 15th holes for a 96, and Gerber played even on numbers three and seven as she shot 107.

Denney also had two pars, on the third and seventh holes, and shot 111.

Today's Monroe Central Invitational was canceled because of overnight rain. The Patriots will be back in action with a split-squad Thursday as one group plays at the Muncie Central Invitational and the other hosts a dual meet against Tri.

[[In-content Ad]]