By RICHIE HALL
The beginning of the girls golf season is Monday, and some familiar names will be taking to the course for Hamilton County teams.
Westfield, Carmel and Noblesville all have most of their players, if not everyone, back from their respective teams from last year. The Shamrocks and the Greyhounds will both begin their seasons at the Bloomington South Invitational on Monday. The Millers will wait until Saturday to start their season, which they will do at the Kokomo Invitational.
Carmel made a spectacular post-season run, finishing third at the IHSAA state meet last year after winning sectional and regional titles. The ‘Hounds have three of the five players on that state-medaling squad back for this season: Senior Elizabeth Hedrick, junior Katie Kuc and sophomore Ava Hedrick.
Also back from last year are junior Sydney Longstreth and sophomore Averie Reiter, who Carmel coach Kelly Kluesner said will be vying for a top five spot. Incoming freshman Ava Nguyen comes into high school golf after a “great” summer, said Kluesner, and the coach looks for her to make a big impact.
“Our team is fairly young this year but filled with players who enjoyed a summer full of competitive golf,” said Kluesner. “I’m really excited for this season, we have a great group of girls with a lot of potential.”
Another team that has great potential is Westfield. The Shamrocks have everyone back from last year’s team, including defending individual state champion, senior Jocelyn Bruch.
“We are really looking forward to this season,” said Westfield coach Trevor Neu. The Shamrocks finished third at the sectional and sixth at the regional, but were only four strokes away from third place and qualifying for state.
In addition, the Shamrocks have an important transfer: Sophomore Sophie McGinnis, who played for Guerin Catholic’s fifth-place state team last year as a freshman. Neu said that she “will have an immediate impact” on the team.
Bruch is one of three seniors on the team. The other two are Natalie Shupe and Grace Snyder, both of whom were also all-Hoosier Crossroads Conference players last season.
“Their leadership will be important for this team,” said Neu of his seniors.
Bruch will miss the first couple meets because she will be playing in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Tournament, which takes place Aug. 5-11 at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.
Also returning are junior Cate Jensen and sophomores Brette Hanavan and Alli Hildebrand. Neu said that Jensen had a good summer and is “really consistent,” Hanavan came on strong during the second half of last year, and Hildebrand “has worked really hard this offseason and has a chance to make an impact on this team.”
The IHSAA calendar has cycled back to the latest dates that events can start, but with Westfield going back to school this week, the Shamrocks won’t be able to play as many early invitationals. But they do have Bloomington South on Monday, then will play Thursday at the Crooked Stick Invitational.
Noblesville is in a similar situation as Westfield. But the Millers will also be quite a bit younger: They have one senior and a handful of juniors.
“We had no seniors last year, so we are returning our entire team,” said Noblesville coach Justin Werkley. The Millers were successful in the post-season last year, placing third at their own sectional and sixth at the Lapel regional.
Noblesville’s lone senior is Mia Sommervold, who played on the Millers’ conference and post-season front five last year. The other four players that competed in the post-season are all back and are all juniors: Sarah Brenneman (an all-HCC player last year), Taylor Caldwell, Bella Deibel and Ellie Karst.
Rylee Kendall and Sydney Peck are two more juniors on the Noblesville team. The Millers also have three sophomores, Sophi Stutz, Erin Burt and Bergan Zebrauskas, and a freshman, Caroline Whallon.
“This should be a really fun year for the Millers,” said Werkley. “I am excited to watch this team play and compete. They are a great group of kids who have been working very hard throughout the off season and should see tremendous improvement from last year.”
Westfield’s Jocelyn Bruch has had a strong summer golf season, including a runner-up finish at the Women’s Western Junior last June. Bruch will lead the Shamrocks this season, although she will be absent for Westfield’s first couple meets due to her participation in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Tournament next week. (Richie Hall/File photo)
Carmel’s Katie Kuc had a top five finish at the Girls State Junior Championship last month. She is one of three returning Greyhounds players that led Carmel to third place at last year’s IHSAA state meet. (Richie Hall/File photo)