Andrews takes early lead
Lampasas, Burnet, Wimberley girls among pursuers.
Burnet’s Reagan Giesenchlag follows through on a shot on the third hole of the Class 4A UIL golf tournament at Onion Creek. The Andrews girls lead the event.
The Andrews girls golf team, which won the past four Class 3A state champi onships by a combined 207 strokes, was off to another great start Monday, posting a 40-over- par 320 at Onion Creek Club to take charge in the UIL Class 4A tournament.
Andrews leads by 29 strokes over Snyder (349), which has been runner-up the past three years. Lampasas is third (354) after one round on the par-70 Original Course.
Two other Central Texas teams, Wimberley (fifth at 392) and Burnet (sixth at 396) were among those in hot pursuit of the four-time defending champions.
The 3A classification was shifted to 4A this school year.
Andrews’ Hailey Burgen had the lowest girls’ score of 3-over- par 73. Lauren Cox of Mauriceville Little Cypress was second at 76, and Andrews’ Kalli Jennings was third with a 77. Only five golfers shot in the 70s, and 29 carded scores of 100 or more.
Lampasas, which switched from Region I to Region IV in the last UIL realignment , is used to deal ing with powerhouses Andrews and Snyder. Lampasas coach Justin Schulze said his team would not back down from the challenge in Tuesday’s final round.
“Our girls understand that they will have to play their best golf if we are going to make up 34 strokes tomorrow on a team like Andrews,” said Schulze, whose team was paced by Kena Cox’s 87. “We had some times today when we played very well, but we had a lull in the middle of the round, and that took its toll.”
Wimberley, the thirdplace finisher in last week’s rain-shortened Region IV tournament, flipped the script on Burnet, which was second in regionals. Freshman Faith Kilgore led the Texans with an 89.
“For being our first time at the state tournament, I thought we played within ourselves and kept fighting,” Wimberley coach Jeff McDorman said. “We are realistic about what we can accomplish here this year, but with the way we played and the difficulty of the golf course, a topsix finish would be a real feather in our cap.”
In the boys tournament, Argyle, runner-up to Andrews the past two years, leads af ter the first round on the strength of a 20-over 300. That was six strokes better than Fredericksburg, eight free of Llano and nine ahead of Andrews.
An even-par 70 by Fredericksburg’s Cole Grona was the top score.
Class 3A boys
Lago Vista trailed firstround leader Troup by 27 shots at Grey Rock Golf Club, where the Vikings totaled a 349.
Senior Brandon Johnson shot a 10-over- par 82 to lead Lago Vista, which was in eighth place. Teammates Derek Haines, Jacob Hernandez and Jake Markham each shot an 89.
Troup (322) had a twoshot lead over Brock in the team race.
Preston McGinty of Bruceville-Eddy held the individual boys lead after carding a 1-under 71. Four players were tied for second at 73.