NorthWood junior MacKenzie Weaver attempts a long putt at last weekend’s East Noble Regional. Weaver carded 83 in round one of the IHSAA Girls Golf State Finals in Carmel Friday. (File photo by James Costello)

CARMEL — NorthWood junior MacKenzie Weaver carded an 83 at day one of the IHSAA Girls Golf State Finals at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel Friday.

Weaver, who was making her second appearance at the state meet but first alone, got off to a bit of a bumpy start on Indiana high school golf’s biggest stage, double bogeying 13 to start 4 over par over the first four holes after starting on the back nine at Prairie View. She settled in to finish just 5 over at the turn and went 6 over on the front nine at the challenging course.

“I thought just a little nerves at the beginning like anybody — she was 4 over after four — but for the most part after that it was a pretty steady round. One hiccup, she doubled a par 3 on the front, which would’ve been her second nine, but really she had I think two doubles and the rest were bogeys and pars,” explained NorthWood head coach Adam Yoder.

“She drove the ball beautifully. She chipped and putted beautifully. Didn’t quite maybe hit her irons as well as she normally does, but you’re also hitting it 20 or 30 yards farther than you normally are so instead of hitting wedges and 9 irons, you’re hitting 7 irons and 6 irons, so that makes a difference.”

Weaver’s 83 may have been her highest score of the postseason so far, but it was a solid score Friday. All told, the Lady Panther top flighter parred nine holes and carded only two doubles as she finished in a tie for 38th in the 100-golfer field according to BirdieFire.com with round one of the state finals in the books.

“We really wanted to just tell her after the round that you’re going to look at the leaderboard when you’re done, and you’re going to see that you didn’t play that bad. It’s a big golf course, and it’s a big stage,” Yoder explained. “There are some really, really good golfers that played right around her score today and well over her score. So you’ve got to kind of look at things in perspective too.

“I thought a really good week for her was if she could sneak into the top 30 or top 25, and she’s got a chance to do that now. She put herself in position, and she’s got a chance to go play a better round tomorrow. She’s capable of that.”

Top-ranked Zionsville led the field in the team standings with a 299 score, well ahead of Westfield’s 316 and three-time defending champion Evansville North’s 318. Chesterton senior Elyse Stasil and Zionsville sophomore Abby Thielbar led the individual leaderboard with a pair of 2-under 70s.

Culver Girls Academy wound up in ninth place after day one with a 349 score led by freshman Reese Wilson’s 7-over 79. Junior Amanda Kurteff carded 82 for the Lady Eagles, while Masako Hatano shot 93, Jiayi Wang turned in a 94, and Katherine Shin shot 95 for the young team.