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Bailey shoots 77 to earn medalist, Thomas, frosh Moore also finish in top 8
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
DEMOTTE — Rochester girls golf coach Chad Thomas said he had wanted the team to participate in the Kankakee Valley Invitational at Sandy Pines Golf Club for years.
They finally got an invite this year and showed the rest of the 17-team field what it had been missing.
Rochester shot a 339 in the season-opening tournament Monday to win the tournament by two strokes over runner-up Lake Central.
The field also included Kankakee Valley and Chesterton, two teams that beat Rochester to advance to state from last year’s regional at Sandy Pines. But this time, the Lady Zs beat third-place Kankakee Valley by 20 strokes and fifth-place Chesterton by 33 strokes.
“This is pretty awesome,” Rochester coach Chad Thomas said. “I wasn’t expecting this, but the girls had a solid summer, and it carried over into the season.”
Winamac, the other area school in the field, shot a 488 and finished 15th. Sierra Haschel led with a 111, K.K. O’Connor had a 122, Hunter Hines had a 124, Mershai Loehmer had a 131, and JeeAnne Peterson had a 142.
Haschel is the only returnee from last year’s team that won the Hoosier North and finished fifth at the Twin Lakes sectional.
Olivia Bailey, playing in her first school round since suffering an avulsion fracture in her hip playing tennis in the spring, won medalist honors with a 77 to lead the Lady Zs. Ava Thomas shot an 82, Molly Moore had an 84, Lexi Haughs had a 96, and Laynie Migonis had a 114.
Thomas and Moore were sixth and eighth, respectively, out of 80 individuals.
Though Sandy Pines is laden with bunkers and water hazards, it would appear that Bailey has taken a shine to it: She was also the medalist with a 72 at last year’s regional at Sandy Pines. Like Bailey, Thomas also advanced to state as an individual from last year’s regional, but the team settled for a heartbreaking fourth, one shot behind Chesterton.
This time, they won their first 18-hole tournament since the Three Rivers Conference tournament last September. But this win might compare more favorably as Crown Point, Lake Central and Valparaiso, all of whom are among the 35 largest schools in the state enrollment-wise were left defeated. Portage, Chesterton, LaPorte and Munster are all Class 4A basketball schools, and they were also in the field.
Bailey never had worse than a bogey, and she birdied the petite par-3 third hole, tapping in from two feet after using a 54-degree gap wedge off the tee from 87 yards.
“I feel pretty good about it,” Bailey said of her round. “It was pretty hot out. I feel like I did pretty well in the conditions. … We played shorter yardages, but it was a lot hotter, and other than that, I thought it compared pretty well.”
Bailey said she felt a pop in her hip – she also plays No. 1 doubles on the tennis team in the spring – and that kept her off the golf course for 10 weeks.
“I got back in early June, so that kind of set me back because I wasn’t able to practice right before we went into the season, but I feel like I’ve gotten back pretty well,” Bailey said.
And in addition to having to play a course teeming with trouble, the players also navigated their way through sizzling temperatures in the mid-90s after a two-hour rain delay in the morning.
“The course was in really good shape,” Thomas said. “Even though they had some rain, the greens were quick. The tee boxes and tees were a lot different than what we see at regionals. They played the most forward tees today, which made a huge difference on several holes. But it definitely will not be the same course that we see hopefully down the road if we make it to regionals.
“But anytime you can come up and play… We’ve been wanting to get into this tournament for several years, but scheduling-wise for them, it didn’t work out. They were full for a couple years, and they had a waiting list, and we couldn’t get in. This year, we had an opening to come up, so it worked out, so we jumped on it.”
Thomas birdied both par-5s on the front nine – Nos. 2 and 7.
“She had a stretch there where it got a little squirrely with the irons and the putter got cold, so I know she was frustrated, but she held it together on the back nine and had one bad hole on the back, but other than that, 82 is a decent score,” coach Thomas said of Ava, a Grace College signee. “I know she wants better, but it’s something to work for.”
Moore, a freshman, is replacing older sister Payton, a 2024 Rochester grad, in the No. 3 spot in the Rochester lineup.
“She’ll have those comparisons and shoes to fill with Payton to graduation, but Molly is a really, really good player,” coach Thomas said. “She’s had a good summer of golf herself. She’s played a ton, and I know she was nervous today, and I asked her how many golf tournaments you’ve had already. I said this is just another golf tournament and another course. So don’t worry about it, just go out and do your best, and we’ll add them up at the end. She played well. She hit the ball really, really well, so I’m very proud of her.”
Haughs, a sophomore, shaved 21 strokes off her score from last year’s regional.
“Lexi, she had it going pretty good, had a really solid round and then she got on a bad stretch of a few holes where she got double bogeys or worse,” coach Thomas said. “And she still had a 96. So hopefully those are things we can work on and shore up – short game and consistency – and get that score down even lower.”
Migonis, a sophomore, was not in last year’s postseason lineup.
“Laynie played a lot this summer,” coach Thomas said. “A lot of Marshall County Junior (Tour), a lot of local events. Worked on her game, worked on lessons. This was her first varsity tournament experience at this kind of level. I know she was nervous, but I thought she handled it well overall, and this will be a good beginning point for her.”
The team’s performance could only increase the anticipation for the season as they head into the Kokomo Invitational at Kokomo Country Club at 9 a.m. Saturday.
“I believe this team could be really good if we all put together some good scores,” Bailey said.
Kankakee Valley Invitational
at Sandy Pines Golf Club, DeMotte Monday
Rochester 339, Lake Central 341, Kankakee Valley 359, Crown Point 362, Chesterton 372, Rensselaer 374, Munster 378, LaPorte 413, Illiana Christian 425, Hanover Central 433, Portage 443, Valparaiso 443, Trinity Greenlawn 458, Andrean 480, Winamac 488, Highland 508, Lowell 515
ROCHESTER (339): Olivia Bailey (37-40) 77, Ava Thomas (39-43) 82, Molly Moore (42-42) 84, Lexi Haughs (48-48) 96, (Laynie Migonis (54-60) 114)
Medalist: Olivia Bailey (Rochester) – 77
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