Sidney finds trouble, victory on Chadron's wooded course

While it wasn't Sidney's best performance it was more than enough to get the job done.

With a 383 total the Red Raiders golf team edged Gering by three strokes to win the Chadron Invite Tuesday at Ridgeview Country Club.

Karson Langley was the top Raider with a 93 to medal in third. She was followed by Rachel Petik's 94 and Jessica Campbell's 97. Katelin Cole and Rachel Blauert both settled in at 99.

All the Raiders earned individual medals.

Though a generally flat track, especially compared with their home at Hillside golf Course, Ridgeview's nine-hole layout was tree lined on most every fairway. Unfortunately, many of the Raiders spent more time than they had wished among the trees.

Petik, who last Friday shot an 80 in North Platte, was penalized 8 strokes on her way to the 94.

"I went out of bounds twice on the seventh hole," Petik said. "I was actually playing pretty well. Besides those bad shots, I feel like I was having a good day."

Since the players had to go around the course twice, Petik earned a small measure of revenge on the seveth. She parred the second trip through.

Jessica Campell was also frustrated by spending too much of her day off the fairway. While she was hitting her driver well, she got into trouble with a crooked iron game. Still she managed to keep a sense of humor about it.

"I was hitting my drives long and straight," she said. "It was my second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth shots," she added, laughing, when asked which swings caused her problems.

Cole, who only had two pars on the day, was troubled with penalty strokes also. But she seemed bothered more by the greens at Ridgeview.

"The greens are so much slower here than they are at Hillside," Cole said. "I was coming up short all day."

Unlike Campbell, Cole's issues began off the tee.

"I wasn't hitting my driver straight. I was hitting water and trees," she said.

Blauert, the only underclassman to make the trip, earned her spot for this match in a four-person playoff on Monday. While coach Jody O'Connell will bring all her seniors to every match, the fifth spot has always been in play. Blauert edged her teammates in nine holes of stroke play at Hillside.

After her round in Chadron she had an optimistic view of the day.

"I really like this course but there are a lot of trees here," Blauert said. "I really enjoyed getting out of the trees. It was a fun challenge."

The Raiders will play their next match at Scottsbluff on Saturday at 9 a.m. The junior varsity will play a match at Mitchell on Thursday.

"A win is a win, and I'm happy all the girls medaled," said O'Connell. "But we need to be sharper. All the seniors are capable of shooting in the 80s and until they do we'll be holding our breath come time for districts and state."