Lakeside, LH take to links for 5A state golf tournament
Seven area high school golfers will be among the 65 girls hitting the links at Hot Springs Country Club this morning as Lakeside and Lake Hamilton represent Garland County in the Class 5A state girls golf tournament.
Lakeside earned a spot in the state tournament as a team, bringing all four of its top golfers to today’s event. Lake Hamilton has three golfers competing as individuals as the team did not score low enough last week at the 5A-South district tournament at El Dorado Country Club.
The course is reported to be in good shape despite the amount of rain in the area over the weekend,
“I talked to one of the dads that played on it this morning,” Lakeside golf coach Gary Don Smith said Tuesday during the practice round. “He said it’s in good shape. It drains good. If we don’t get any more rain, we’ll be in good shape tomorrow.”
Abby Lea Huett will lead the Lady Rams after medaling last week with a 77 at the district tournament. Joining the sophomore will be classmates Carly Orr, Riley Langston and Lilly Crabtree.
“(Carly) has been my No. 2 all year,” Smith said. “She can be close on a good day. We really need her to have a good day tomorrow. Riley Langston is our No. 3 player; she needs to shoot in the low 90s for us to be in it. She shot a 113 at the conference tournament. … Lilly is usually in the low 100s. If she’s having a good day, she can be in the 90s.”
Lake Hamilton has three underclassmen who scored high enough last week to play as individuals today at the state tourna-
ment. Freshmen Ginny Higginbotham and Annabelle Coppedge and sophomore Kenley Spruill all earned a berth.
“None of them played before,” said Lake Hamilton head coach Brandi Higginbotham, explaining the trio, along with freshman Hayleigh Wyrick, have had consistent scoring all season. “They are pretty excited. We’ve got two freshmen and a sophomore here. Our sophomore started just two weeks before the season.
“Ginny is consistently our best scoring player. They are all pretty young as far as skill. She shot a 101 at El Dorado, and she was excited about that.”
Lakeside is traditionally one of the favorites to win the tournament. One of The Sentinel-Record’s 2017 Co-Golfers of the Year, Gracen Blount, now on the Central Arkansas women’s team in Conway, placed second overall a year ago to lead the Rams to the state championship, but Smith said the team faces some major competition this year.
“Greenwood is tough,” Smith said. “Mountain Home won in 6A last year and maybe the year before that. They’re good. Greenwood had three in the 80s at their conference tournament. They’re some good competition. Sheridan is back. They had the best four in our conference.”
While the Lady Wolves may not have a chance to claim a title, coach Higginbotham wanted to make sure the players get the opportunity to compete.
“I wanted them to have the opportunity to get experience,” she said. “I wanted them to get in and not get shellshocked. They each set goals and have tried to drop their scores. Now, they just have a big tournament to do it in. We’re just going to end it on a good note and do the best at the end of the season.
The 65 in today’s tournament is higher than it has been the past few years.
“We used to play about 60 in the old
5A,” Smith said. “Now that we’ve got the 16
6A schools in the tournament, the numbers are better.”
Greenwood and Lakeside used to have a regular rivalry several years ago while they were in the same classification.
“We used to trade out tournaments each year,” Smith said. “It’s good to get some of that old stuff back. It didn’t really hurt us at conference, but it made state tougher.”