By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka High's Avery Zimmerman got her junior golf season off to a solid start Tuesday at Wamego Country Club, shooting a city-low 84 in the 16-school Washburn Rural Invitational.
An All-Shawnee County first-team pick as a sophomore, Zimmerman tied for 12th in a field of 80 golfers and said she was extremely pleased with how her day went.
Topeka High junior Avery Zimmerman watches her birdie putt roll toward the No. 6 hole Tuesday at Wamego Country Club. Zimmerman made the putt en route to an 84 on the day. [Photo by Rick Petersson/TSN]
"This is a hard course, it's my first tournament, and I'm really happy with how I played,'' Zimmerman said.
And although she'll obviously be trying to shoot lower as the season moves on, Zimmerman said she'll always be happy with anything in the mid-80s or lower.
"Absolutely, anytime,'' said Zimmerman, also an All-City pick in soccer.
Zimmerman played the back nine, regarded as Wamego's toughest nine, first on Tuesday and said she felt like that helped her. Zimmerman shot a 43 over her first nine holes before improving two strokes to a 41 to close out her round.
"I was able to get the hard ones out of the way and then I had the easy ones left, so it kind of boosted my confidence at first, which was nice,'' she said.
Going up against a field that included defending Class 6A state champion Blue Valley West and 4A state champ Wamego, Washburn Rural, the 6A runner-up a year ago, tied for fifth with Wamego at 355 and took that spot by virtue of a lower fifth score.
Mallory Nelson
Senior Mallory Nelson paced the Junior Blues with an 85 while sophomore Reece Randall followed with an 89, junior Raegan Petersen with a 90 and senior Avery Scott with a 91 to round out Rural's top four.
The Junior Blues played a split squad in their home meet, with sophomore Natalie Peterson leading the Gray team with an 87.
"We can only continue to get better from here,'' Rural coach Jared Goehring said. "I'm impressed that we had 11 girls out here playing on this tough golf course and the girls responded pretty well in stretches. We just weren't consistent enough on that backside, especially where those holes can jump up and get you and you can have a big number on them.
"The girls had one or two bad holes, but we'll learn from it and we'll improve and get better moving forward.''
Shawnee Mission East freshman Ella Slicker ran away with medalist honors Tuesday, shooting a 71 to take a four-stroke victory over Olathe Northwest's Claire Sullivan.
Olathe Northwest won the team title by a whopping 40 strokes over Blue Valley West (309-349) while Shawnee Mission East placed third with a four-person score of 350.
WASHBURN RURAL INVITATIONAL
At Wamego Country Club
Team scores
Olathe Northwest 309, Blue Valley West 349, Shawnee Mission East 350, Olathe West 351, Washburn Rural 355, Wamego 355, Washburn Rural Gray 375, Manhattan 375, Blue Valley 377, St. James Academy 396, Mill Valley 398, Free State 404, St. Thomas Aquinas 404, Lawrence 462, Shawnee Mission South 507.
Individual results
1. Slicker, Shawnee Mission East, 71; 2. Sullivan, Olathe Northwest, 75; 3. (tie) Berquist, Free State, Kelso, Olathe Northwest, and Hearshman, Olathe Northwest, 76; 6. Cagle, Olathe West, 80; 7. Rodriguez, Blue Valley West, 81; 8. (tie) Lyons, Olathe West, Blacketer, Shawnee Mission East, and Beveridge, Olathe Northwest, 82.
Washburn Rural -- Nelson 85, Randall 89, Petersen 90, Scott 91, Smith 93.
Washburn Rural (Gray) -- N. Peterson 87, Stead 94, A. Peterson 97, Meier 97, Rose 100.
Seaman -- J. Zimmerman 98, Samuelson 105.
Topeka High -- A. Zimmerman, 84.
