Sweet swings: Tonganoxie High girls golf wins season opening tournament

By Shawn Linenberger - | Aug 30, 2021

Tonganoxie High wins the Ottawa Invitational on Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. Pictured, from left, are Santiana Garcia, Bethany Overmiller, Abby Clarkson, Emma Skelley, Hayden York and Keerstin McNeely.

Tonganoxie High girls golf kicked off the new season in pretty good fashion Monday.

THS won its first tournament of the season with an invitational at Ottawa Country Club.

The Chieftains tallied a low score of 207 at the nine-hole tourney. Tonganoxie finished just ahead of Eudora, which scored a 209, and Santa Fe Trail, which finished at 211.

Osage City, Ottawa and Bashor-Linwood also competed as full teams, while Topeka High, Anderson County and Wellsville sent partial teams.

Hayden York led Tonganoxie with a 48. She finished fifth overall. Emma Skelley placed eighth with a 53, while Santiana Garcia placed ninth with a 53 and Bethany Overmiller 10th with a 53.

Keerstin McNeely and Abby Clarkson, meanwhile, made their varsity debuts Monday at Ottawa.

“It’s really good for a lot of our young kids to get some experience,” THS coach Doug Sandburg said Monday. “I think we’ve got a lot of room to improve.”

Tonganoxie lost key team members to graduation last year, including Morgan Brusven, Meghan Heskett and Kylie Rickard. Brusven qualified for state individually last year where she placed 10th overall in Class 4A. The year before, the Chieftains advanced to state as a team, securing their first bid in school history in just the program’s third year of existence.

“We lost a lot of seniors who were great kids and brought us up a level,” Sandburg said. ” And these kids are picking up where they left off. But hopefully they’re not satisfied and we’ll keep working harder.”

Tonganoxie has a strong group moving into the role of seniors with Chilali Tanner, Katie Skinner, Sydney Padfield and McNeely all in their final year at THS. Tanner placed 22nd at regionals last year and is expected to be a big contributor again this year. She was unavailable for the Ottawa tourney due to COVID-19 quarantine protocols. Padfield is on the team for the first time this year.

Tonganoxie will return to action Sept. 9 with tournaments at Village Greens Golf Course near Topeka (varsity) and Wamego Country Club in Wamego (junior varsity).

The Topeka tournament starts at 1 p.m., while the Wamego Invitational tees off at 3 p.m.

: Tonganoxie High wins the Ottawa Invitational on Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. Pictured, from left, are Santiana Garcia, Bethany Overmiller, Abby Clarkson, Emma Skelley, Hayden York and Keerstin McNeely.