10/20/2009

NIXA, mo. — Notre Dame de Sion took the first step toward winning its third consecutive Class 2 girls golf championship by grabbing a 14-stroke lead after Monday's first round at Fremont Hills Country Club.

Notre Dame de Sion scored a four-player total of 327, while Ursuline Academy shot a 341 on the par-70 course. It's a sizable hole for Ursuline, but not insurmountable for a team that has had two fourth-place finishes since 2002.

"I went over hole by hole with my girls, and between four girls there are at least 14 shots," Ursuline coach Bridget Gilbert said. "I think all of the girls feel like there were holes they could've done better on — there were three putts, chunk chips and different things like that."

Gilbert was especially pleased considering the Bears had played themselves out of contention on the first day last year and finished in fifth place. And she knows that anything can happen during the final round to close that gap between first and second.

Gilbert said she is certain senior Gabi Hitch can score better than her first-round 90, as Hitch is typically the team's best putter and she missed several that would normally fall. Hannah Schmitz led the Bears with an opening-round 81, and Andrea Frankiewicz carded an 83. Audrey Dombrowski scored an 87.

St. Joseph's Academy was in third with a 347 after Gina DellaCamera carded a 79 to lead the Angels. Rachel Thompson was close behind with an 85.

"I was hitting the ball fine, but there were three holes where I did badly," DellaCamera said. "I got over those and went on to the next hole."

Summit's Lindsey Eisenreich was also disappointed with her opening 79, which has her tied for second, 6 strokes off the lead. She birdied No. 1 after making the turn from the back, and then she lipped out a birdie putt on No. 2. That led to a double bogey, bogey, double bogey over the next three holes.

"I just overall didn't play very well," Eisenreich said. "It didn't affect me, but it was disappointing."

Lee's Summit North's McCall Christopher has the individual lead with a 73.