Garaway owns the day at George J. Valentine Memorial Golf Invite

A light rain fell through most of the 25th annual George J. Valentine Memorial Golf Invitational held at Brookside Park Golf Course on Monday but that didn’t dampen the spirits of Garaway High School’s Sydni Prysi.

The senior linkster had trouble only on the opening hole before blistering the course for even par 71, good to earn her medalist honors on the day, one shot better than medalist runner-up Zoe Mort of Marlington who carded a 72.

“We were late, I got out, I topped my first drive, it probably went 20 yards, took a bogey on that, and after that, it all just kind of fell into place,” Prysi said as Garaway’s “A” team won the tourney with a round of 304. “Our team has so much potential, it always has. But I feel like now that so many of us are seniors, we can really just get down into it, do what we need to do and have a great senior year.

“I think Brookside is a really nice course, I have some holes I like more than others but it’s a very nice course and I would come back and play it again.”

Medina came in second place with a 333, led by Lydia Dorman’s 79 and an 80 shot by Stella Burns. Third place went to Garaway “B” with a 359 as Sara Weaver shot 83 and teammate Kylie MIller scored an 85.

And a record was set by Hillsdale junior Dally Meek, whose 38 on the front set a new standard for nine holes for the Falcons. She closed her round with an 83 total.

“This has kind of been my goal since I was a freshman, wanting to be able to break the school record,” Meek said. “It’s really exciting to be able to do it.

“I just had a really good day, the course played really well for me,” Meek added. “We were lucky enough the rain kind of held off and sprinkled a little and all of my shots were going really good, my short game was good, and my drives didn’t let me down.”

A youthful Ashland team played well by shooting a 393 with senior Lydia Wells leading the way with an 83, followed by sophomore Elleni Miller’s 90, a 92 by junior Kyah Huckleberry and a 128 by Carly Wyatt. Also competing for Ashland was Haylee Bond (130), Natalie Kohler (132) and Topanga Nagel (149).

“We’ve got Ellenia, Kyah and Lydia, and all three of them can be our No. 1 any given day so it’s nice to be able to count on them and rely on them for that leadership,” said second-year Arrow coach Mason Berry. “Especially Lydia as a senior, it will be great to see the leadership role she takes this year.’

Wyatt, Bond, Kohler and Nagel are the youngsters who Berry has high hopes for.

“I think all four of them started last week, and just the fast growth they’ve made with their golf swings is awesome,” Berry added. “And it means a lot for the girls to be here because they love this tournament, they love being here at their home course.”

Now in his second season guiding Ashland, Berry believes the future is bright.

“We had a great team last year with Emma Packard as our senior and leader, and this year I’m just excited to be back,” Berry said. “And I’m excited to be able to help grow a team a little bit as opposed to last year when I came in and we were pretty good as it was. Now, hopefully, I’ll have a little bit more of an impact in helping these girls learn the game.”

The tournament featured 16 schools with 13 teams represented. Makaree Chapman shot an 80 to lead Lexington (369), as Mansfield Senior (427, 3 players), Madison (439), and Wooster (459) were the other Ohio Cardinal Conference teams in the field.

Crestview High School shot a 476 under coach Brock Kelley, with Elyse Belcher leading the way with an 89, followed by Deryn Moore (127), Kennedy Snyder (128), Maycee Tackett (132), Logan Moore (134) and Amber McKee (163).

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Girls Golf: Garaway dominates George J. Valentine Golf Invite