ELKHART —
Kaley Eakle mastered the gusting winds better than anyone else Tuesday at Bent Oak Golf Club near Elkhart.
The Concord High School senior skillfully crafted a 44 to capture medalist honors as Concord (207) defeated Goshen (211) and West Noble (251) in a nine-hole girls golf match.
"Kaley had a very good score under these conditions," Concord coach Tricia Gregory said. "She made each shot count by hitting a lot more greens. Doing that allowed her to score better. She played to her potential and I’m proud of her."
The Goshen-Concord match counted as a Northern Lakes Conference decision.
"A 211 is the highest score we’ve had in about a month and the weather conditions certainly had something to do with that," Goshen assistant coach Bruce Zimmerman said. "We just have to put the weather conditions behind us and get ready for Saturday."
The NLC tournament is Saturday at Stonehenge near Warsaw.
"We shot a 196 at Stonehenge last week and in my seven years with the program that’s the first time we have broken 200 there," Zimmerman said. "That should give the girls some confidence going into the tourney."
Zimmerman was filling in for head coach Brock Rose who missed the match because he was taking his daughter Amanda to college.
Junior Heather Gladfelter led the Redskins with a 46, followed by senior Brook Cripe 51, freshman Teage Minier 52, junior Kaitlyn Karnes 62 and sophomore Rochelle Rock 68.
"Heather struggled before finishing bogey, bogey, bogey," Zimmerman said. "We know she is a better golfer than that.
"A 52 from Teage is an outstanding score considering the conditions.
"You have to take your hat off to Eakle. She did a good job handling the wind and her score was the difference in the match."
Also for Concord, junior Kristen Fioritto had 50, senior Erin Cisneros 55, senior Alexa Little 58 and freshman McKenna Grimske 74.
"I’m happy with our team score," Gregory said. "We stayed mentally tough, which is the way you had to play today to handle the wind. I’m very proud of the girls. This was a big NLC win for us and it was Younce to get one of those before we head into the tournament on Saturday."
For West Noble, junior Brooke Moser had 50, freshman Kelsey Younce 64, sophomore Gabbie Brown 68, sophomore Breana Whitney 69 and senor Katie Moreno 75.
Concord has a 6-11 record (1-6 NLC), Goshen 5-7 (0-7)and West Noble 2-11.
None of the teams had a complete JV score. Freshman Morgan Leonard had 59 and sophomore Emily Vanderveer 76 for Goshen, freshman Abigail Roberts 53 and sophomore Ashlyn Ball 65 for Concord, freshman Rachel Stohlman 64 and senior Elizabeth Powell 75 for West Noble.







