By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
It is arguably the most intense day in the high school golf season: Regional day.
For Indiana’s girls golf players, that day is Saturday. There are five regionals across the state, and Hamilton County golfers will compete in two of them. Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern and Noblesville will play at the Lapel regional in Edgewood.
Meanwhile Carmel, Westfield and two Guerin Catholic players will compete at the Roncalli regional, which will be played for the first time at The Legends Golf Course in Franklin, the former site of the state finals. The first players tee off at The Legends at 8:30 a.m., with the first tee times at Edgewood starting at 9 a.m.
Both regionals feature four ranked teams. At Edgewood, the Royals are rated No. 7 and the Tigers are No. 8. Fishers, however, won the Noblesville sectional last Saturday, shooting a 306 at Harbour Trees to defend its championship. The Royals were second and the host Millers third. The Tigers’ Kennedy Brooker was the meet medalist with a 73.
The highest-rated team at Edgewood will be No. 3 Columbus North. The Bull Dogs easily won the Greensburg sectional last Saturday at the Greensburg Country Club with a 313. Columbus North had three of the top five players, led by medalist Nathaly Munnicha’s 75.
Also coming in ranked is Cathedral, which is co-rated No. 15 in the final coaches poll. The Irish blistered South Grove last Saturday with a 297 and had three of the top four players. Maddie Dittoe was the medalist with a 69, the lowest score of all the regional qualifiers.
Fishers will start play between 9:30 and 10:10 a.m. from the first tee. The Royals will begin between 9 and 9:40 a.m., starting from the 10th tee, with Noblesville teeing off from No. 10 between 9:50 and 10:30 a.m.
Down at The Legends, all eyes will be on Westfield and Zionsville. The Eagles ended the regular season ranked No. 1, while the Shamrocks are No. 2. The teams will play in the same group, starting from the Middle Tee between 8:50 and 9:30 a.m.
Westfield won the Ben Davis sectional at South Grove last Friday, edging out No. 6 Carmel 293-295. The Greyhounds had the meet medalist, with Nina Hecht shooting a 69. Guerin Catholic’s Gabby Gilrowski was second with a 70, while Angelica Pfefferkorn’s 74 was good enough to get her on to the regional as an individual, along with Gilrowski.
Zionsville wowed the Brownsburg sectional, setting West Chase Golf Club on fire with a 284. The Eagles had three players in the top five: Clair Edwards shot 68, Annabelle Pancake 70 and Avery VonDielingen 71. But none were the meet medalist: Plainfield’s Kayla Benge carded a 67 to win the sectional; the Quakers got the third team spot to qualify for the regional. Ninth-ranked Brownsburg was second.
“We always look forward to being paired with Zionsville,” said Shamrocks coach Trevor Neu. “Our girls know their girls really well and it’s always nice to play with teams you’re familiar with and also know that you are going to be battling it out with all day. We have a lot of respect for their program and being paired with them always brings out the best in both of our programs.”
The Greyhounds will begin from the Road Tee, starting between 8:30 and 9:10 a.m. Gilrowski will start from the Middle Tee at 8:30 a.m., with Pfefferkorn following her from the Middle Tee at 8:40 a.m.
Here’s a list of qualifiers for both regionals:
AT EDGEWOOD
NOBLESVILLE: 8-Fishers 306, 7-Hamilton Southeastern 320, Noblesville 344.
MUNCIE CENTRAL: Delta 374, Muncie Central 384, Wapahani 400.
LAWRENCE CENTRAL: 15-Cathedral 297, North Central 338, Bishop Chatard 348.
MOUNT VERNON: New Palestine 333, Greenwood 387, Greenfield-Central 394.
RICHMOND: Franklin County 352, Richmond 361, Union County 391.
GREENSBURG: 3-Columbus North 313, Greensburg 356, Columbus East 356.
AT THE LEGENDS
BEN DAVIS: 2-Westfield 293, 6-Carmel 295, Covenant Christian 313.
CRAWFORDSVILLE: Lebanon 328, Western Boone 377, Southmont 391.
BROWNSBURG: 1-Zionsville 284, 9-Brownsburg 312, Plainfield 335.
CENTER GROVE: Center Grove 330, Roncalli 345, Franklin Community 349.
NORTHVIEW: Terre Haute South 326, Terre Haute North 372, Greencastle 372.
MADISON: Henryville 389, Madison 396, Jennings County 427.