Lady Tiger golfers take second at districts

MARSHFIELD, Mo. -- The district championship golf tournament at Marshfield Country Club featured a tough 12-team field, but Nevada Lady Tigers head coach Brian Leonard knew coming in that the only real competition would be between his Lady Tigers and the Mount Vernon Lady Mountaineers.

By many accounts around the district, those were the two teams that would end up at the top of the leaderboards, and that was exactly what happened. Mount Vernon had a much easier go at it than originally expected, however, winning the tournament with a final score of 377 -- 27 strokes ahead of the Lady Tigers, who took second with an overall score of 404.

"I thought a 380 would win it, but I was a little off on that," Leonard said. "We would have been happy with a 380, though."

Logan-Rogersville took third place with a final score of 417, followed by Carl Junction at 445 and Greenwood at 470. Bolivar, Seneca, Seymour, Aurora and Buffalo rounded out the field.

Clever and Lutie also had players in the tournament, but couldn't compete for the championship due to not having enough players to field a full team.

The Lady Tiger struggled in the district tournament much more than the last time they visited Marshfield, when they won a 16-team regular season tournament with a combined total of 354. Mount Vernon took second in that tournament with a score of 362.

Despite falling short of their second district championship since 2005, the Lady Tigers did end up with three solid top-10 individual finishes in the tournament. Emmaly Ellis posted the best score of the day for the Lady Tigers as she took second overall with a final score of 89 -- nine strokes behind overall winner Jeanna Brewer of Mount Vernon.

Melea Galimberto and Mariah Jones finished very close together in eighth and ninth with overall scores of 100 and 103, respectively. Ellis, Galimberto and Jones are now set to join the entire Mount Vernon team, as well as Logan-Rogersville's Jennifer Redman and Tanya Bulder, Clever's Nicole Wallen, Greenwood's Anna Connor, Carl Junction's Adyson Conley and Seymour's Erin Hagen and Allison Hyde for a trip to the state championship tournament.

Ashley Shumaker missed the cut by just four strokes as she finished 21st with a final score of 112, while Morgan Turner tied for 29th at 120.

This year's state tournament is scheduled for Oct. 19 and 20, at the Sedalia Country Club in Sedalia, Mo. Tee time is set for 9 a.m., on both days of the tournament.