Wawasee’s Lesley Tayagua blasts out of the sand Wednesday in a quad at South Shore. (Photos by Mike Deak)

SYRACUSE – Effectively, it was a home meet for the girls from Syracuse. But more importantly for Wawasee head coach Steve Coverstone, it was more experience for his young squad Wednesday night.

Wawasee piloted a 195 to top the group that had Churubusco tally 201, the ‘home team’ West Noble side shoot a 204 and Whitko card 226 in the quad at South Shore Golf Club just down the road from Wawasee High School.

Kaitlynn Shull led Churubusco with a 48.

While the Lady Warriors call Maxwelton Golf Club home in the fall, Wawasee knows the South Shore course well. Despite several crooked numbers in spurts, Coverstone noted his kids made some marked improvements from Monday, when the team shot it’s season-best 198 nine-hole score. Now three strokes clear, that sentiment is carrying more water.

“The kids have been great, they work hard, good attitudes,” Coverstone said. “When you can continue to drop scores from match to match, that shows improvement and that’s what you want to see from the kids.”

Some of the rise in quality came from Belle Brunner, who turned some bad into good in her round of 44. Landing under a fence on her tee shot on five, Brunner was able to chip within a couple feet on her second shot from the rough and sank the par putt, then later salvaged another poor tee shot with a decent approach.

Coverstone pointed out shaky starts from golfers like Ava Harker (51) and Lesley Tayagua (57) saw them rally on other holes, and big drives from Jadison Rostochak (49) and Valerie Haessig (51) helped them stay in range. Getting his squad to find more success from 50 yards and in, though, will be the key as the Northern Lakes Conference season is rapidly approaching.

“We need to get better 100 yards and in, but if we can get better 50 yards and in, I will take it,” Coverstone said. “If we can get better from 50, we’ll be much better at the end of the season. The thing we have to overcome are some eights, sevens on the scorecards. We did a better job avoiding some nine and 10s, and I can live with that.”

Whitko’s Bailey Wright paced the team with a 54.

West Noble’s Hannah Godfrey played the course like a home golfer should, playing par golf for much of her round of 40. A four-over on the fifth was Godfrey’s only real trouble of the round after opening with a birdie on the first. The Chargers had Natalie Halfert shoot 51, followed by Kailia Coplin (54), Audrey Fulford (59) and Maddie Bottles (61).

Whitko had its No. 1, Bailey Wright, lead the way with a 54, and Erin Starkweather at 56. Guinny Garr and Gus Garr each shot 58 and Summer West had a 60.

Busco, making a rare appearance at South Shore, showed the ability to be a decent team going forward, but ran into some big numbers on the course. Kaitlynn Shull led the Lady Eagles with a 48 in what would be a very consistent contingent. Terra Mayer had a 50, Maddy Dreibelbis a 51 and Makenzi Tonkel a 52 for its wrapup, its fifth a 58 from Jada Kirkpatrick.

Wawasee will prepare for its Wawasee Invitational, which will take place Saturday morning at South Shore.

“I think for where we are at now, the girls have shown the ability to adjust and make some improvements on the course,” Coverstone said. “We’ve had some troubles in the short game, but we have a couple girls that can really strike the ball well off the tee. I think if we can figure out how to play from within 50 yards, get the chipping and the putting working, we can be where we should be come tournament time. It won’t happen overnight, but these girls have the ability to get there.”

West Noble’s Hannah Godfrey was the match medalist with a round of 40.

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