Jay Co. girls drop first (08/05/05)

NEW CASTLE — The Patriots lost their first dual meet of the season, but their coach still walked away happy.

Jay County’s girls golf team had another round of personal-best scores Thursday at Henry County Public Golf Course in a 200-213 loss to Tri.

After one week of play JCHS is averaging 215 for nine holes, an improvement of eight strokes over the 2004 squad at this point in the season.

Trisha Champ, a sophomore, paced the Patriots with a 41. The 4-over-par score matched the best of her career.

Champ opened with four straight bogeys before turning the corner on the fifth hole. She played even the rare par-6, 500-yard hole and finished with five consecutive pars.

Through four nine-hole rounds this year she is averaging 41, more than six strokes better than her freshman season.

Junior Ashley Bunch also came up big after a slow start. She notched the Patriots’ lone birdie, the first of her career, on the par-5 ninth hole, and also had a par and a bogey in the final five holes for a personal-best 53.

Miranda Denney, a junior, opened her round with a par and also had three bogeys en route to a 55. Brittany Lewis improved in just her second varsity match with a pair of bogeys on the par-3 sixth and seventh holes to round out the team score with a 64.

Alex Bunch shot 76 in her first varsity match, and Rachel Osterholt had a 78.[[In-content Ad]]