Lady Redskins show improvement despite finish

Senior Bret Lyon prepares for a putt at the Liberal Invitational Tuesday. Lyon continued to lead the team, but the Lady Redskins finished fifth. L&T photo/Bruce McPhailSpecial to the Leader & Times

The Liberal Lady Redskins hosted their own LHS Girls Golf Invitational Tournament on Tuesday (rescheduled from Monday). The tournament was an all-WAC event, with the five WAC schools in attendance. This was their third WAC event of the season.

Hays was again the team to beat and showed their dominance by having four of the top five scores posted on the day.

TEAM SCORES:

1.  Hays 325

2.  Garden City 368

3.  Dodge City 447

4.  Great Bend 509

5.  Liberal 536

TOP-10 INDIVIDUAL SCORES:

1.  Abbie Norris Hays 78*

2.  Jaycee Oakley Hays 78

3.  Jerika Lopez Garden City 82

4.  Even Cox Hays 83

5.  Lily Garrison Hays 86

6.  Payton Dunn Dodge City 87

7.  Brooke Savolt Garden City 91

8.  Liz Dreiling Hays 95

9.  Ashlynn Banker Hays 96

10. Natalie Unsworth Garden City 97

*Won in playoff

 Complete tournament results can be found on kansasgolfscores.com 

LHS INDIVIDUAL SCORES:

Bret Lyon 105 15th

Leini Tian 130 20th

Katie Lewis 150 23rd

Aaliah Osborn 151 24th

LHS returns to action Thursday, Sept. 21, at Buffalo Dunes Golf Course in Garden City.

“Because I’m such a competitive person, it’s sometimes hard for me find positives after finishing last,” Liberal coach Bert Luallen said. “But there certainly are some things I’m pleased with. First is the continued positive play of senior Bret Lyon. In the first four tournaments of this season, she’s averaging 14.5 strokes per round better than a year ago. Plus, she’s so consistent, with scores of 105, 104, 112 and 105.”

Luallen saw improvement in other players as well.

“Leini’s goal for Tuesday was to not have any scores of 10 on any hole, and she accomplished that,” he said. 

Besides senior Bret Lyon, the remaining three golfers on the LHS roster have a combined eight months of golfing experience. 

“Heck, I played for years before I attempted to play in competition,” Luallen said. “Hitting a golf ball well and  consistently is one of the most difficult things to do. These young ladies have nothing to hang their heads about. I appreciate their commitment to LHS and our program more than they know.”