BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Ava Thomas was making it rain at Round Barn Golf Club at Mill Creek Wednesday. Well, not necessarily.
But she dodged the rain drops to shoot a 36 and take medalist honors in a four-way match that included Warsaw, Triton and Wabash.
Warsaw won with a 176, Rochester had a 181, Wabash fired a 237, and Triton had an incomplete team.
Thomas’ even-par round included three birdies, three pars and three bogeys. Playing the front nine and starting on No. 3, she birdied Nos. 4 and 7 before finishing her round with a birdie at No. 2.
Asked how she is better than she was last year, when she made the all-Three Rivers Conference team and came within two shots of making the state finals, Thomas spoke of her mental approach.
She said she tries to take it one shot at a time.
“I think I can regulate what I’m thinking about the whole time and not stress out about the score,” Thomas said. “Last year, I liked to add up the score in my head, and that was not good at all.”
Rochester coach Chad Thomas said that Ava Thomas is good at distance control with her irons. When she hits good tee shots that allows her to get to her shorter irons, that improves the likelihood she will have shorter putts once she reaches the green.
“She got off the tee really, really well,” Rochester coach Chad Thomas said. “She was hitting some really nice drives. When she does that and can get in good positions with the shorter irons, that’s when she fares her best. She hit the tee shots really, really well.”
Other Rochester scores included Olivia Bailey’s 41, Payton Moore’s 46, and Lexi Haughs’ 58. Bailey also had a birdie on the par-3 fifth hole.
“She’s been playing phenomenal, and this is one of her higher scores that she’s had in a long time, so I know she’s frustrated,” coach Thomas said of Bailey. “But she’s the type of kid that will learn from it and bounce back, and she’ll be better next time out, I’m sure. Sometimes you have those rounds (where) you just have to have a short memory.”
Olivia Robinson Gay posted Warsaw’s low number with a 41. Abbey Peterson had a 42, and Claire Reust had a 43.
Kenley McWhirt shot a 46 for Wabash.
Chloe McKinney had a 53 to lead Triton, who had only three players, all freshmen.
at Round Barn Golf Club at Mill Creek Wednesday (front nine, par 36)
WARSAW (176): Olivia Robinson Gay 41, Abbey Peterson 42, Claire Reust 43, Abigail Davis 50, (Macy Carlile 58)
ROCHESTER (181): Ava Thomas 36, Olivia Bailey 41, Payton Moore 46, Lexi Haughs 58
WABASH (237): Kenley McWhirt 467, Emma Adams 59, Kaylee Indrutz 65, Julia Stephens 67
TRITON: Chloe McKinney 53, Brooke Kitch 69, Sydney Heckaman 71
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