MORRISTOWN – The Greeneville girls golf team had a strong showing at The Country Club in Morristown on Tuesday in the Mike Mills Morristown Invitational.
As a team the Lady Greene Devils placed second and all three Lady Greene Devils placed in the top five as individuals.
“I think we did good today. It was good to get Kylee (Renner) back out here. As always, all three turned in solid scores,” Greeneville coach Todd Ricker said. “I’m very encouraged, but we still have stuff to work on. Its awesome to see all three near the top of the leaderboard. We were hoping to win this today, but its still been a good start to year.”
Kamryn Renner led Greeneville’s effort with a 75 which was good enough second place as an individual. Brylee Catron shot a 76 which tied for third overall, and Kylee Renner, in her first appearance this season, shot a 79 to tie for fifth. As a team Greeneville shot a 151.
“Having all three capable of scoring well takes so much pressure off of all of them,” Ricker said. “They know going into every tournament that at least two of them are going to have a score that makes us competitive. Their attitudes were positive today. This golf course is very challenging around the greens, and they were really patient and kept plugging along.”
Hardin Valley took the team title by shooting a 148. Addisyn Newman led that effort with a 72 that earned her medalist honors. Rylee Taylor shot a 76.
The Lady Devils are off to a strong start to the young season. They have finished second in both tournaments they have entered in fields loaded with strong Class AA and Division II teams.
Greeneville is coming off a Class A State championship a year ago, and returns all three members of that team. Now the goals are even bigger. Coach Ricker believes all three girls on his squad are good enough to win the individual state championship, and of course the Lady Devils are looking to bring home another team title. At the same time they know it will take a lot of hard work over the next two months to march through the postseason again.
“We want the big trophy again, and I would love to see one of them win the state championship as an individual. The way they play they are all three capable of that,” Ricker said. “Over the next couple of months the focus will be short game and course management. We have to get there first, but if we do that I feel like we have an advantage because we have been there before. They have already played that tournament with as much pressure as you can possibly go through.”
Greeneville’s last individual state champion was Karen Socha in 1985
Chuckey-Doak was also in the field in Morristown on Tuesday. The Lady Black Knights shot a 208 as a team, which was second best among Class A schools. Harley Thompson led the way with a 101, Alexis Deming shot a 107 and Addilyn Boesch had a 108.
