Golfers eye regional success

During Saturday’s sectional tournament, the Patriots were unsure they would advance.
When it secured a regional berth in back-to-back years, the Jay County High School golf team was overcome with excitement.
The South Adams Starfires were too, having made it past sectional for the second time in as many years. It was the second in program history as well.
But with another regional challenge looming, both teams are hoping to continue showing improvement.
“I want the girls to go out and play as well as they can and see what happens,” said JCHS coach Butch Gray. “It’s a reward for how they finished the season and how they stayed with it.”
Jay County, which finished third at sectional for the second consecutive year, is seeded last out of 18 teams headed into the Anderson regional at Edgewood Golf Course.
Seeds are based on sectional scores.
Fifth-ranked Cathedral, which totaled 302 Saturday, is the top seed. Third-ranked Columbus North (309) is second, and No. 7 Hamilton Southeastern is third with 321. Fishers, which is ranked ninth, and No. 17 Noblesville round out the top five seeds.
Four seniors — Brooke Sanders, Abby Saxman, Rachel Antrim and Sydney Robbins — lead Jay County into regional, but only two have experience at the regional level.
Sanders, who led the Patriots at sectional with a 95, was Jay County’s second-best regional golfer during her junior year. She shot a 107, nine strokes behind teammate Sydney Mathias, who now plays for Vincennes Lincoln.  Sanders’ career-best 18-hole score is a 93, which she set at sectional last season and tied during the South Adams Invitational to begin this year.

Antrim’s 122 last year did not factor into the team score, but she has been averaging slightly higher than 111 strokes per invitational this season.
Saxman and Robbins, along with junior Carlie Wickey, will be making their regional debuts.
“I was hoping to make it to (regional) at some point during these four years,” Robbins said. “To do it this year is really special. It’s been a goal of mine.”
Saxman has played in all four 18-hole tournaments this year for Jay County, and her 101.2 average is best on the team, one stroke ahead of Sanders. Saxman had a career-best 95 during the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament Sept. 6 at Timber Ridge in Bluffton.
Robbins is third on the team with a 108.2 average, and Wickey is fifth with 114.7.
“I’d like to stay under 100 for sure if I play like I know I can,” said Robbins, whose team played a practice round at Edgewood on Wednesday. “I expect to score low- to mid-90s. That is my goal.
“I’d like to go out on a high note.”
Gray said he is happy that the Patriots will be playing at Edgewood rather than Westwood, like they did last year.
“I think it’s a real good course,” he said. It’s got some changes in elevation. It’s got some doglegs both ways. You’re hitting up, hitting down, hitting across.
“It’s a sporty, challenging course. I really like the choice the IHSAA made.“
Prior to 2014, South Adams’ golf team had never made it to regional. Now, the Starfires return with the same objective that got them there the first time.
“My goal for them this year is the same as last year — try to improve on the round at sectional,” said SAHS coach Seth Sprunger. “If you score better than you did at (sectional), then you win.
“That’s the goal we have for this weekend.”
Success at Noble Hawk Golf Club in Kendallville — just as it has all season — will rest on the shoulders of Sydney Willis, a home-schooled senior who qualified for state as a sophomore.
Willis has won all but one match this season, including earning championships of the South Adams Invitational, New Haven Invitational, Bi-County, ACAC and sectional tournaments.
Willis missed a state berth by two strokes as a junior, and she agreed that the disappointment from last season has put a chip on her shoulder this year.
“I’m not going to argue with that,” she said. “In a way I’m taking not making it (to state) last year as motivation. It’s really motivated me to make sure I can get out this year.”
Not only does she have the potential to reach state for the second time in three years, she has a shot at earning a regional championship in the process.
Based on the top three scores from each of the six sectionals that feed into South Adams’ regional, Willis’ 73 is tied for first with Cassidy Jurkaites from Penn.
“I feel like my mindset the last two years was just to get (to regional),” said Willis, who is averaging 74.5 strokes per 18-hole tournament. “I wanted to perform well and get out. But this is my senior year and I just won sectional. I’m having a good season.
“My expectations are to win it.”