UIL GIRLS STATE GOLF: Wall, Mason and Robert Lee take first-round leads

AUSTIN -- It was a banner day for West Texas area teams during the first round of the UIL Girls State Golf Tournaments on Monday, as Wall, Mason and Robert Lee are all in first place.

Defending 3A champion Wall combined to shoot 312 for a commanding 47-shot lead over Odessa Compass Academy.

Lady Hawks junior Shay West fired a 71 for a one-shot lead in the medalist standings, and senior Sam Lehr is in fourth with a 78.

Wall senior Gracie McMillan is currently seventh with an 80 and fellow senior Corbyn Herring recorded a personal-best 83. Sophomore Emily Green carded a 94.

"Those girls did about everything you could want to do for the first day," Wall coach Rob Londerholm said. "They felt pretty confident and I don't think they were nervous. That was the best part of it. They just went out there and played well. 

"It set up pretty nice for them. It was pretty warm, but those greens, you could kind of go at them. That works really well for our girls because they're pretty accurate, so it was pretty fun for us today."

West said things couldn't have gone much better on Day 1.

"It felt really good today," West said. "The greens weren't what I was expecting from what everyone was telling me that they were terrible. They were manageable, so I'm kind of OK with that.

"I had a lot of momentum through the first nine, and then toward the back nine I kind of lost a little bit of it. My score started to get to me, but I ended up pulling through in the end."

This is the same group of girls who won state last year and they're fighting hard to defend their crown.

"I'm so proud of my team," West said. "We've all come such a long way this season. Corbyn shot her personal best today and I'm proud of that. I'm just proud of how far my team has come. And at state, there's a lot of pressure."

If things go like that again on Tuesday, it'll be a spectacular showing again by the Lady Hawks.

"We've got other goals in mind," Londerholm said. "I think we might be pretty close to shooting the 3A state record. We're on pace for that, so that's something that they want to do. I don't know if they know that. We didn't talk about it, but it's something that I think they're aware of. 

"I don't think they're going to let up. Shay is one stroke in the lead, so she's competing individually there to win the whole thing. And Gracie and Sam are very much in medal contention as well. And Corbyn's in medal contention, too."

At the 2A tourney at Lions Municipal Golf Course in Austin, the Mason Cowgirls positioned themselves to make a run at the first state golf title in school history.

Mason shot 360 for a 15-stroke lead over Normangee, the team that beat the Cowgirls last year when Mason finished second.

Cowgirls sophomore Avery Burns is currently third with a 79, 10 shots off the lead.

Rounding out the Cowgirls' results were: Raeylnn Leifeste (91); Tristin Keller (93); Sydney Hardin (97); and Jessie Phillips (111).

"We felt like we played really well," Mason coach Kade Burns said. "We had some holes where we did not play well, but that happens sometimes in golf, but especially at this golf course.

"It's a really narrow course and sometimes you can get into a little jam and get into some trees. There's a few hole that have a bunch of water. I was really proud of the way they rebounded when they didn't have a very good hole. We played the next hole really, really well a lot of times."

The Mason player who just took up golf recently had a solid first day.

"We were really pleased with our No. 4 golfer today, Tristin Keller," Burns said. "She's really No. 5. Since she has been done with softball and track, she got to practice a little more the last four or five days and I think that really helped her out."

The Cowgirls know there's still a lot of work to do to wrap up the championship.

"In any type of sporting event, you can't look at the end, you've got to concentrate on the task and hit shot for shot and not worry about the result and really stay foused on that," the Mason coach said. 

"At the end of the day, hopefully we play well enough to come out and win. But at the end of the day, we really want those kids to focus on what they're doing. We did that (Monday) and we need to do that again (Tuesday). They don't give out state championships after Day 1."

The Ozona Lady Lions are currently eighth at the 2A tourney.

Claire Bean is leading Ozona with a round of 100, followed by Krysten Webb (103), Skylar Lacy (109), Laramie Nowell (124) and Haley Nowell (130).

San Saba is being represented by individual medalist Karlee Reed, who opened strong with an 88.

Meanwhile at the 1A tourney at Plum Creek Golf Course, it was business as usual for two-time defending state champion Robert Lee.

The Lady Steers posted a 390 total to take an 18-stroke advantage against Happy heading into Tuesday.

Garden City is third with a 413 total and Veribest is fourth with a 421.

Robert Lee senior Braylee Hood shot an 88 and she's sitting in third place, seven shots off the lead.

Garden City freshman Rylee Wood is tied for seventh with Robert Lee's Abbigayle Smith. They shot rounds of 94.

The rest of Robert Lee's scores included: Mackenzie Galicia (95); Mia Galvan (113); and Kailey Freeman (121).

"We struggled early, all but one of them actually," Robert Lee coach Kerry Gartman said. "She played good all day. And my No. 5 girl (Abbigayle Smith) played good all day. She came through today and played like I really expected her to all year. 

"Of course, that's been our strong suit. Any one of them can outscore the other ones (on a given day). Braylee Hood has been our No. 1 most of the time, but at the first round at district, Abbigayle beat Braylee. Any of the five can score well."

Smith is normally Robert Lee's No. 5 player, but she had her A game working Monday.

"I really feel like my fairway game was working well for me and my putting," Smith said. "From the tee box to the greens, I was having a good round."

The Lady Steers will take a business-like approach into Tuesday's final round.

"We're feeling pretty good about going into (Tuesday)," Smith said. "We're not counting anybody out, for sure. We're just taking it one stroke at a time like we've been doing and just going in with level heads and a good feeling."

Rounding out the rest of the scores for Garden City were: Shelby Braden (101); Kara Roberts (108); Briana Halfmann (110); and Amber Schwartz (120).

Veribest's scores were: Alexis Salvato (102); Olivia Abbott (103); Callie Briley (107); Jalynne Campbell (109); and Morgan Palmore (121).

Richland Springs medalist Sierra Tharp opened with a 106.

Charles Bryce is a journalist covering sports in West Texas. Send him a news tip at cbryce@gannett.com. Consider supporting West Texas journalism with a subscription to GoSanAngelo.com.