Head coach Jim Hoffman was hoping his Seymour girls golf team could break 390 in the Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament on Monday at Shadowood Golf Course.
Lainey Jackson was the only Owl to break 100 and the team shot 400 to place fifth out of seven schools.
Floyd Central, led by the 1-2 finishes of Paige Giovenco (74) and Trinity Bramer (78), easily won the tournament with a score of 322. New Albany was second at 343, Columbus East shot 347 and Bedford North Lawrence scored 367.
“After Saturday — it was a little easier course (than Cascades) — shooting 385, 390 was our goal,” Hoffman said. “We just had a couple that got off to a bad start.”
Jackson’s score of 87 was the best of her high school career so far.
“She did pretty much everything well,” Hoffman said. “Hole 17 got her or she would have been below 85. She came out early this morning and hit balls and was really focused on her game. She’s making a little move forward, and we look for good things from her.”
Katie Cottrill was next for the Owls with 50-50-100, Liza Stuckwisch shot 55-51-106, Phoebe Skidmore shot 53-54-1207 and Emily Windley, playing in her first 18-hole tournament, scored 145.
“Katie Cottrill coming in with a 100 two out of the last three days, that’s her two best scores of her young freshman career, and that is encouraging,” Hoffman said. “We’ve got to get Phoebe and Liza rounded out.”
With sectional at the end of this week, Hoffman said he feels the Owls can challenge Bedford North Lawrence for the sectional title.
“I think we’ve really got to putt better going into (the sectional) Saturday,” he said. “Winning is our goal, not just getting out. I think we’ve got to get past the ‘getting out stage.’ I think we have the team. If we put it all together, we can nudge Bedford out if it. I think we can do it.
“We’ve got to work hard the next four days with our putting and getting up and down around the greens.”
Jackson’s 44-43-87 earned her all-conference honorable mention honors.
“My irons were really good today,” she said. “I struggled with my drives on the first couple holes, but they really evened out on the rest of the course. Pin placement was a little rough, and the greens were fast, so I struggled on putting a little bit.”
The greens got a little faster during the day as the dew wore off, and Jackson believed that helped her.
Going into the sectional, Jackson has high expectations for herself and her teammates.
“I want to shoot in the 80s again in the sectional, and I feel we should win sectional because we have a lot of experience in our first three spots where all of us are juniors and we’ve played there,” she said. “I feel we can play well there.”
The sectional will start at 8 a.m.