By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's girls claimed their third straight United Kansas Conference golf team championship in as many tries in Tuesday's league meet at Lake Shawnee while Topeka West senior Alex Baxter got over the hump for the UKC individual title after a pair of near misses.
Baxter shot an 87 to take medalist honors while Seaman dominated the rest of the top five en route to a huge 56-stroke margin over runnerup Basehor-Linwood (372-428) in the team race.
Topeka West senior Alex Baxter shot an 87 to win the individual championship in Tuesday's United Kansas Conference tournament at Lake Shawnee. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Baxter knew Tuesday was her last chance to claim an individual UKC title and she wanted to do whatever she could to close the deal.
"I'm pretty excited,'' Baxter said. "My sophomore year I placed third here, my junior year I placed second and I was hoping my senior year I would place first, which I accomplished.''
After finishing third as a sophomore and second as a junior, Topeka West senior Alex Baxter shot an 87 to win the individual championship in Tuesday's United Kansas Conference tournament at Lake Shawnee. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Senior Jaycee Zimmerman finished second in Tuesday's United Kansas Conference golf tournament with an 88, helping Seaman win its third straight league team title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Baxter trailed for much of the day but was able to come from behind on her back nine (Lake Shawnee's front nine) for the win, taking a one-stroke victory over Seaman senior Jaycee Zimmerman, the 2023 conference champion.
"I got a pep talk from my coaches (Richard Mariani and Lynn Riney) and I had to just toughen up and keep going at it,'' Baxter said.
Junior Makenna Stuke shot an 89 to finish third individually for team champion Seaman in Tuesday's United Kansas Conference golf tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Vikings put all six of their golfers in the top 14 spots, with junior Makenna Stuke shooting an 89 to finish in third place while sophomore Katelynn Frye was fourth (97), senior Anna McLaughlin tied for fifth (98), sophomore Chloe Schmidtlein tied for 10th (106) and junior Molina Quintana tied for 14th (110).
Seaman had finished a distant third as a team in Monday's city tournament at Western Hills, 63 strokes behind champion Washburn Rural, but the Vikings cut 17 strokes off their team score on Tuesday.
It was a good team win today, and I am proud of our girls,'' Seaman coach Julie McLaughlin said. "We really struggled in the city tournament yesterday, and our golfers were pretty down, so this was a solid victory to be able to bounce back and lower our scores some today on a challenging course.
"We still have some work to do to get our scores where we want them to be as we get deep into the season, but we feel like today was a boost to our morale.''
Shawnee Heights senior Lyla Blair tied for fifth individually with a 98 while T-Bird sophomore Lauryn Valdivia finished 13th (109).
UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
At Lake Shawnee
Team scores
Seaman 372, Basehor-Linwood 428, De Soto 440, Piper 456, Leavenworth 473.
Individual results
1. Alex Baxter, Topeka West, 87; 2. Jaycee Zimmerman, Seaman, 88; 3. Makenna Stuke, Seaman, 89; 4. Kaitlynn Frye, Seaman, 97; 5. (tie) Lyla Blair, Shawnee Heights, and Anna McLaughlin, Seaman, 98; 7. Claire Fitzgerald, Basehor-Linwood, 99; 8. (tie) McKenzie Laster, De Soto, and Zella Kiewet, De Soto, 100; 10 (tie). Chloe Schmidtlein, Seaman; Lara Herken, Leavenworth, and Aubrey Ziolo, Basehor-Linwood, 106.
Other Seaman – Molina Quintana 110.
Other Shawnee Heights – Lauryn Valdivia 103.
Other Topeka West – Berlyn Kolean 119, Lily Bowen 123.
