Girls Golf: Johnson helps Hawks take third at home meet

Despite another strong effort from Taylor Johnson, the Shawano Community High School girls golf team had to settle for third place at a Bay Conference meet at Shawano Lake Golf Course on Thursday.

Johnson shot a round of 46 on the front nine to take second place individually. The junior was coming off a first-place effort Tuesday.

Johnson finished with two pars on the day and finished behind only Xavier’s Lauren Haen (41).

“I had my B game today, but I pushed through and really tried to stay focused without getting down on myself,” said Johnson. “It was a huge mental battle today and I had to keep telling myself to have a short memory.”

Shawano finished with a team score of 219, just a shot behind West De Pere. Xavier won the meet with a score of 204.

Georgia Eggert finished second on Shawano’s five-golfer varsity team with a round of 54. Macie Herm finished two shots behind at 56.

Kiley Rusch fired a 63, while Hannah Seehafer tallied a 67 to fill out the team.

It marked the second straight conference meet that the Hawks finished third in after tying West De Pere and Xavier in the first meet of the conference tour.

“I think as a team we need to come together with the ambition that we can win,” said Eggert. “We have had a lot of close calls, especially today when we didn’t make second place by one stroke. Winning is not out of reach for us.”

Bonduel came in sixth as a team with a score of 280.

Sydney Luepke led the way for the Bears, carding a 63. Ava Pleshek finished second on the team with a 67.

Kylie Hoffman shot a 70, while Taylor Luepke (80) and Haylee Van Allen (85) rounded out the five-golfer team.

Despite a slow start to the year, the Bears will remain confident and continue to strive for improvement.

“We are more of an inexperienced team this year, and there’s nothing wrong with that, we’re just looking for a spark after the first couple of meets,” said Pleshek. “It might take time before we perform to our full potential, but we’ll keep working hard at practice to make sure we get there.”

The next conference meet will be at Golden Sands Golf Course on Tuesday.

Team scores: 1. Xavier 204; 2. West De Pere 218; 3. Shawano 219; 4. Seymour 230; 5. Oconto 265; 6. Bonduel 280; 7. Sturgeon Bay inc.

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