FORT WAYNE — With the Northern Lakes Conference schedule around the corner, the Warsaw girls golf team took part in Saturday’s New Haven Invitational at Fort Wayne’s McMillen Park Golf Course. In the 16-team tournament, Carroll took first place with a 338, followed by Homestead (346), Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger (346), Warsaw (347) and Leo (354) in the top five. For Warsaw, it was just a couple strokes from finishing second, but the short game of the girls was a little off on the par-65 course. “They’re still struggling with their chipping and putting,” Warsaw coach Chris LaLonde said. And on a small course like McMillen Park’s, struggling with chipping and putting can be problematic. “I added it up, and if you had 7s on all the par-4s out here and had pars on the par-3s, you’d still break 100 with a 98,” LaLonde said. “So, you have to be able to play the par-3s. We didn’t have a whole lot of 3s on our scorecards. We have to buckle down, because at Stonehenge (Golf Club), there’s three par-3s. If you can par those par-3s, then on the other holes you takes 4s, 5s and 6s, you’re going to have a decent score. This really gives them the idea that they really need to stay focused on the tee shots on the par-3s. Yes it’s a shorter hole, but you can't let up on it.” Senior Elizabeth Meadows’ 79 gave her an overall fifth-place individual finish, while senior Nikki LaLonde’s 82 was eighth-best of the day and junior Alexis Manwaring finished 12th with her 83. From the team’s No. 4 and 5 spots, junior Kristen Watson shot a 103 and sophomore Aarshia Jain carded a 105. “The top three played decent,” LaLonde said. “Kristen and (Aarshia) just need to buckle down and avoid the miss hits. Just get the ball in play and keep it in play.” Win or lose the tournament, LaLonde likes to take part in it to gauge the schools in Fort Wayne, some of which Warsaw may see Sept. 28 at Kendallville’s Noble Hawk Golf Links. “Seeing the Fort Wayne schools is good, because they all go to the East Noble Regional,” she said. “So, we’ll see these teams again. It gives us an idea of what to expect and a little firepower for me to tell the girls what they need to buckle down on a little more if they’re going to have success at regionals.” Before worrying about the postseason, Warsaw will first need to concern itself with the NLC season, which begins Tuesday at Nappanee's McCormick Creek Golf Course against No. 16 NorthWood and Plymouth.
NEW HAVEN INVITATIONAL Team Scores – 1. Carroll 338, 2. Homestead 346, 3. F.W. Dwenger 346, 4. Warsaw 347, 5. Leo 354, 6. East Noble 354, 7. Bellmont 355, 8. Norwell 368, 9. Angola 377, 10. Fremont 380, 11. Huntington North 383, 12. Columbia City 384, 13. F.W. Snider 388, 14. New Haven 415, 15. F.W. Concordia 415, 16. DeKalb 425 (McMillen Park G.C., Par 65) Warsaw – Alexis Manwaring 83, Elizabeth Meadows 79, Nikki LaLonde 82, Aarshia Jain 105, Kristen Watson 103 JV – 1. East Noble 384, 2. Leo 394, 3. Warsaw 397, 4. Columbia City 403, 5. Bellmont 406, 6. F.W. Luers 449, 7. Huntington North 452 Warsaw JV – Page Desenberg 96, Miranda Domiano 99, Morgen Fuentes 101, Maddie Graham 101, Lauren Shaffner 100
