The Garner-Hayfield-Ventura girls golf team is off to the state golf meet for the first time as a school and the program’s first time since 1991.
“I think the girls overachieved,” said GHV golf coach Todd Greiman. “People (around town) would ask me what I thought about this year’s team, and I never told them I thought we would be this good, but I expected us to be this good,” Greiman said.
Led by freshman Audrey Overgaard, the Cardinals carded the sixth, seventh, and eighth-best scores on the day to propel them past West Lyon to finish second to New Hampton at Bear Creek Golf Course in Forest City. Following Overgaard were seniors Jailyn Krein and Rylee Frayne, finishing in the top-10.
“I’ve felt like I’ve done pretty good, but I wanted to stay humble,” Overgaard said, following her round. “We’ve worked so hard for (this moment), and we deserve it,” she said.
Krein had a rough start to the day. She opened with a nine on hole-5 but quickly bounced back to fire a 48 on the first nine holes.
“Honestly, I just had to remember it was just nervous, and I have 17 more holes to play”, Krein said. “In the past, if I did bad, it went downhill, but this year, my senior year, I did my best I have all year,” she stated.
She, and Frayne, both fired 45s on the Bear Creek back-nine to help secure the runner-up position. Only New Hampton’s top-3 shot better. The Cardinals were watching the T.V. screen in the Bear Creek clubhouse as the scoring was coming in; when they saw, they celebrated.
“At the beginning of the season, I didn’t really see it coming to be honest, but without all these girls, we wouldn’t be here.” Krein says she knew Overgaard was good, but “I didn’t think she was that good.”
The GHV girls will head to the Class 2A state golf meet in Cedar Falls on Thursday and Friday. Thursday’s round starts at 9:00 AM with a shotgun start from the Pheasant Ridge Golf Course. The second round on Friday will begin via tee times, with the first one set for 8:30 AM.
“Rylee and I will be proud of them no matter what,” Krein stated of the two seniors keeping everyone calm and the nerves down before the biggest and final meet of their high school careers.
With Overgaard’s sixth place finish, she also qualified as an individual.
Top-6 advance as individuals.
Medalist – Lauren Nuss, New Hampton 82
Runner-up – Madison DeJong, West Lyon 84
Third – Sanja Noehl, New Hampton 85
Fourth – Elsie Parriott, Spirit Lake 87
Fifth – Lydia Olson, New Hampton 88
Sixth – Audrey Overgaard, GHV 90
Seventh – Jailyn Krein, GHV 93
Eighth – Rylee Frayne, GHV 95
Eleventh – Kenedee Frayne, GHV 98
Eighteenth – Sydney Helgeson, GHV 106
Twenty-fourth – Jessa Heitland, GHV 115
TEAM SCORES
- New Hampton 352
- GHV 376
- West Lyon 395
- Spirit Lake 410
