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WINONA LAKE - To knock off unbeaten Warsaw Tuesday, Whitko girls golf coach Jennifer Carr said her team would have had to shoot its best score of the season, the host Tigers their worst score.
That didn't happen.
In fact, it was host Warsaw that had its season-best outing, firing a 176 on the front nine at Stonehenge to beat the Wildcats by 35 strokes.
"Warsaw is a respected program," Carr said. "They have a tradition of good golf teams and good individuals. We knew we'd have to play a perfect round and they'd have to play one of their worst rounds. We got beat by a good team."
The win keeps the Tigers unbeaten at 6-0, while Whitko falls to 5-1.
Carr pointed out Warsaw's tradition of good teams and good individual players. Tuesday the Tigers had both working for them.
Already one of the best linksters in the state, freshman standout Emily Johnson took match medalist honors with her 9-hole round of 38.
"She's one of the best in the state," second-year Warsaw coach Chris LaLonde said of Johnson. "She's an excellent addition to our team this year. She wants the team to play so well, and she really helps pick up the team's level of play. It's all showing in the scores."
Said Carr: "She's just outstanding, she's absolutely outstanding on the course. She handles herself in such a mature manner. She's always playing against upper classmen but she handles the situation very well. She's very mature. And Stephanie (Boggs) told me they talked the whole time they played, so she's a very nice kid, too."
As a team, the Tigers had four players shoot 47 or under. Whitko, on the other hand, had but one girl shoot under 49.
To go with Johnson's 38, sophomore Jenny Manning shot 45, lone senior Katrina Bonahoom 46, junior Jessica Sadler 47 and junior Mallory Hepler 51.
"Not to take away anything from last year's team, but they were young," said LaLonde. "We're still young this year, but this is an exciting team. We're right on the verge of really playing good. Every time we go out we shoot better and better."
The Wildcats, whose program has seen a run of success under the guidance of Carr, got a 48 from Angie Herron, 49 from Stephanie Boggs, 55 from Jayanna Begley, 59 from Cassie Graves and 68 from Caitlin Sautter to score their 211.
"I'd have been ecstatic to pull this off, but we knew we had our work cut out for us," said Carr. "We'll rebound. We'll find out the next time we play what type of competitors we are."
Whitko is in action again Thursday, hosting Triton and NorthWood at Sycamore Golf Club. The Tigers' next match is Thursday at Honeywell with Wabash and Tippecanoe Valley.
