West golfers will focus on individual goals at state

Lee’s Summit West had two main goals during the girls’ golf postseason — advance everyone out of the district tournament and take one of the two team state-qualifying spots at the sectional.

Mission accomplished.

Now, it gets a little tougher for West, which reached the second goal with a second-place finish Oct. 2 during Class 2 sectional play at Paradise Pointe in Smithville.

The Titans will play Oct. 9-10 in the Class 2 state tournament at the Sedalia Country Club, qualifying as a five-golfer team for the first time since 2013, but the objective next week will change.

“The thing about it is this competition is going to be very, very tough,” West golf coach Richard Myers said. “The goal now is a little different. The goal now is to go down and play as best you can, because the teams down there are very, very good.”

This is an exceptionally tough team field, Myers said, and the scores from the four sectional tournaments prove his point.

West’s 365 team total was the highest among the eight qualifying teams. Notre Dame de Sion, which handily won the Class 2, District 7 tournament last week, breezed to victory again at Paradise Pointe by shooting 336.

Then, there are St. Louis schools Mary Institute/Country Day and defending champion St. Joseph’s Academy, which took the top two spots in their regional with scores of 317 and 319.

“I really don’t have a goal of where I want to finish, because all the other teams’ scores are better than ours,” Myers said. “I just want to go down and get the experience this year and, hopefully, use it as a building tool.”

That experience should prove valuable, because four of the five Titans ought to return next season. Faith Beaty is the lone senior, whil McKenna Rice, Quincy Munsell, and Taylor Starr are juniors and Shannon Ralls is a freshman.

Rice, who qualified for state last year along with Beaty, is expected to be a contender for an individual medal.

After placing second in the district with an even-par 72 at Adams Pointe, Rice was also second at the sectional with a 5-over 77 on a very windy day.

That wind, which was blowing hard off Smithville Lake, made it a difficult day for the Titans and the rest of the field.

Beaty tied for ninth and had West’s next lowest round with an 89. Munsell came in at 99 and Starr finished with a 100.

“I was happy with the kids for not quitting,” Myers said. “When you’re having a tough day, it’s easy to give up, and we fought that wind. Every stroke counts in that team competition, and our kids hung in there and I was proud of them.”

Vera Bohning of St. Michael the Archangel and Alyssa Pemberton of Summit Christian Academy will compete in the Class 1 state tournament after qualifying in the Class 1 sectional at Mozingo Lake Golf Course in Maryville.

Bohning finished tied for sixth with a 92 and Pemberton shot a 105 and tied for 18th.

The Class 1 state tournament will be Oct. 9-10 at Columbia Country Club.

This story was originally published October 4, 2017 at 6:32 PM with the headline "West golfers will focus on individual goals at state."