PREP GIRLS GOLF: Fairfield, Goshen finish in top three at Goshen Invite
Aug. 2—GOSHEN — Fall sports are back, and taking center stage on Monday was girls golf.
Eight teams hit the links at Black Squirrel Golf Club to compete in the Goshen Invitational, which granted an opportunity for every coach to get a chance to see their lineup in action for the first time.
Every team grouped together at Black Squirrel, giving each coach an extended look at every player's game heading into the rest of the regular season.
"I really liked it," said Goshen coach Jenna Pecenka of having the team's grouped up. "I think for the first invite of the year, it's important because a lot of the girls haven't really played together. I know myself personally, we only do two days a week during the summer and some of them come and some of them don't. Some of the girls have camps or 4-H stuff they have to do, so I think it's good for all of them to be able to hangout as a team for the first 18 holes. It can be kind of overwhelming when you go play 18 for the first time at the start of the season."
FAIRFIELD, GOSHEN FINISH IN TOP THREE
Mishawaka Marian made its presence known on Monday by running away with the victory by 47 strokes, but two local area teams had really solid days that both coaches were happy with to begin the year.
Fairfield picked up a second-place finish and some hardware after shooting a 421 with just four players.
Bailey Willard led the way for the Falcons, shooting a 52 on the front nine and a 50 on the back to finish in 10th overall with a 102. Malley Behles finished two strokes behind Willard thanks to a solid performance on the back nine (48). Trinity Ruiz (106) and Ashlynn Yoder (109) rounded out the order for coach Brent Nunemaker.
"Well when you only have two practices before your first invite, you just sort of wonder," Nunemaker said. "But I thought that my girls played real well. We only have four on the team, so we had to take all four scores (Monday). Because of that, I was real pleased with what they did. I took a year off from coaching, so I didn't really get a chance to see what they did last year. Those four came back, and they did really well here."
Of the four, Nunemaker was especially impressed with the performance of Behles.
"I thought Malley really surprised me," he said. "She's improved a lot since I coached her two years ago. ... Our two juniors were the low scorers of the four, so that was great to see."
The RedHawks came up just a stroke short of finishing in second, but the improvement over the sixth place finish in 2019 and fourth place finish in 2020 is what satisfied coach Pecenka.
"We did better, position-wise, at this event than in the past," she said. "A lot of the other teams have newer players just like us, so we did pretty well for having three new players. We could've shot better. There were plenty of holes that we could've saved strokes and putts on."
Leading Goshen was Briza Tayagua-Delgado, whose 43 on the front nine was one of the best of the entire invitational. She finished fifth individually behind a 93. Her teammate, Maya Narayan, placed seventh individually after a 45 on the back nine catapulted her into the top 10.
"Both of them are really good players," Pecenka said. "Both of them can break 100 all of the time, they just need to save strokes on their putts and stay out of trouble, which they both like to do sometimes. ... But they do a good job of keeping their cool as much as they can. Once you get older playing this sport, you tend to be more mental about it. So sometimes they have a little breakdown that can affect them going into the next couple of holes, so the biggest thing is just to leave that bad hole behind and don't worry about it."
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2021 GOSHEN INVITATIONAL RESULTS — Monday, August 2
1. Mishawaka Marian, 374: Selah Unwin, 85; Madison Hahn, 87; May Weston, 94; Sarah Olivia, 108; Lucie Tinervia, 128
2. Fairfield, 421: Bailey Willard, 102; Malley Behles, 104; Trinity Ruiz, 106; Ashlynn Yoder, 109
3. Goshen, 422: Briza Tayagua-Delgado, 93; Maya Narayan, 97; Sarah Kim, 115; Kiley Wise, 117; Kendall Hill, 121
4. Concord, 434: Rayna Boessler, 99; Madison Weaver, 102; Ryleigh Robinson, 114; Bella Sponseller, 119; Avery McDowell, 136
5. Mishawaka, 435: Grace Vandenburg, 90; Claire Braniff, 110; Sarah Burns, 115; Joszlyn Thompson, 120; Lillian Stone, 138
6. Lakeland, 443: Kylee Watkins, 90; Brooke Retterbush, 111; Amelia Trump, 114; Caitlyn Miller, 128; Lydia Trost, 139
7. Elkhart, 447: Natalie Wolfschalager, 103; Savanah Crussneyler, 107; Madison Axson, 112; Alexia Comer, 113; Natalie Edminson, 119
LaVille (two players): Elle Lemberis, 103; Julia Singleton, 140
INDIVIDUAL TOP 10
1. Selah Unwin (Mishawaka Marian): 85
2. Madison Hahn (Mishawaka Marian): 87
3. Grace Vandenburg (Mishawaka): 90
4. Kylee Watkins (Lakeland): 90
5. Briza Tayagua-Delgado (Goshen): 93
6. May Weston (Mishawaka Marian): 94
7. Maya Narayan (Goshen): 97
8. Rayna Boessler (Concord): 99
9. Madison Weaver (Concord): 102
10. Bailey Willard (Fairfield): 102
