Jackson golf finishes third in Class 4 District 1 Tournament, 5 Indians advance to state

OAKLAND, Mo. — A periodic check of the live Class 4 District 1 girls golf team standings throughout the day Monday kept revealing different things.

Jeff Fahrner wanted no part in checking those updated scores.

“I don’t pull it up. I don’t look at it,” the Jackson coach said. “Some of the parents kind of gave me some updates throughout the day, but I don’t really like looking at the scores. There’s not a whole lot you can do about it.”

At one point early in the day, the Indians had a lead over perennial private school powerhouses St. Joseph’s and Visitation, but Jackson ended up looking up at the St. Louis duo with a third-place finish.

The Indians shot a 336 at Westborough Country Club in suburban St. Louis to finish just 13 strokes behind seven-time defending state champion St. Joe’s and only six behind Viz, which has finished first (Class 2) and second (Class 3) in the state the last two years.

“I think they battled out there,” Fahrner said. “Our game plan going in was to just hang in there and hang on and they all did that. I was real happy with the way grinded it out today.”

Only the top two teams can claim the automatic team berths, so Jackson had to qualify to play as a team at state the hard way and that’s exactly what the Indians did, as all five of their golfers advanced individually.

“That is awesome,” senior Alana Gilbert said. “It would have sucked if we left one person behind. It just wouldn’t be the same. I’m just glad we get to go as a team. It makes the experience better.”

Gilbert ended up with the Indians’ best score of the day Monday with a 6-over-par 77, which was five strokes off the pace and good enough for a third-place showing.

“She’s just as consistent as there is out here,” Fahrner said. “She didn’t have her ‘A’ game today, but that doesn’t really seem to matter for her. She can always card a good score.”

Gilbert carded a 6 on the par-4 second hole but quickly rebounded for her only birdie of the day on No. 3.

“I struggled putting today. I four-putted that hole and I was like, ‘Wow, this is a great way to start,’” she said. “I think the motivation of that four-putt helped me birdie the next hole. It’s almost like I took the anger out on that next shot.”

Sophomore Julia Schlitt finished just one shot behind Gilbert with a fourth-place tying score of 78.

“She is ultra-talented,” Fahrner said. “She’s usually in the top group playing with the best players. She had a little bit of a tough break on her second-to-last hole (a double-bogey on No. 17), but she really played well all day long.”

Senior Harper Ready also fashioned a top-15 finish with an 89, which put her in 13th place.

“She’s been with our program probably since she was in eighth grade. She was a team manager,” Fahrner said. “And she had a great round today. She made just an incredible par on 14 and then finished her last four holes at 1-over-par. And she was scuffling before that, so she finished like gangbusters. It was awesome.”

Senior Grace Hightower (92) and sophomore Madison Thrower (95) finished 17th and 20th, respectively, and will also join their teammates at the Class 4 tourney, which will take place next Monday and Tuesday at Silo Ridge Golf and Country Club in Bolivar, Mo.

Silo Ridge — like Westborough was for districts -- will be an unfamiliar course for the Indians, which makes the Sunday practice round that much more important.

“I love practice rounds,” Gilbert said. “You can’t go on a new course and shoot your best because you don’t know where to hit it and where not to hit it. And the greens, especially knowing which way they break and how fast they are. A practice round really gets us settled in.”