MONTGOMERY
Seymour girls golf coach Jim Hoffman has talked about his team’s potential all season long.
At Saturday’s regional at Country Oaks Golf Course, the Owls’ No. 1 golfer, Bridget Marshall, reached that potential, shooting a 76 for a spot at this weekend’s state meet.
It’ll be the first trip for Marshall to Prairie View Golf Course in Carmel, the site of the girls golf state finals, after coming close over the last few years.
Her score also marks a huge improvement over the week for the Owls senior.
At last week’s sectional meet at Otis Park in Bedford, she carded an 88 that was good enough for fourth best in the six-team meet. Still, her 12-stroke improvement was only third best for the Owls as four of the five golfers showed tremendous positive change at a very tough course.
Freshman Phoebe Skidmore shot a personal-best 96 for the third-best score on the team on Saturday. It was also a 22-stroke improvement for Skidmore. Senior Peyton Levine, who was only in her second year on the team, shot a 105 bettering last week’s score by 20 strokes.
Rounding out the scoring for the Owls was Laken Waskom’s 91, a two-stroke improvement from the week before, and Lainey Jackson with a 111.
The Owls finished eighth overall out of 18 with a team score of 368.
Marshall was 2-under-par after the front nine, birdieing the first, fifth and eighth holes. She had her struggles on the back nine, which is shorter and more hazardous than the front.
Defending state champion Evansville North won the regional with a new state record 284 with Evansville Memorial (310) and Gibson Southern (327) finishing second and third.
Hoosier Hills Conference rivals Bedford North Lawrence (340), Floyd Central (344) and New Albany (384) finished fifth, sixth and 10th, respectively.
For Brownstown Central’s Ashyln Fox, making her second trip to the regional, she finished with a 101.
Tee times for this weekend’s state meet will be released later this week.