Lady Pirates break the school mark by posting a 310
The Garaway Lady Pirates sensational six posted a team score of 310 at the 24th annual George J. Valentine Memorial Invitational on Aug. 22 at Ashland Brookside Golf Course. The score set the school record by two strokes.
Garaway head girls golf coach Angie Miller knew this year’s deep and seasoned team would have a crack at posting some record-breaking numbers this year.
It didn’t take the Lady Pirates long to etch their name in the record book.
The Lady Pirates set a new school record and were crowned champions at the 24th annual George J. Valentine Memorial Invitational on Aug. 22 at Ashland Brookside Golf Course, where a team title took a backseat to the impressive 310 the team posted to break the former record of 312, set seven years ago.
“The girls were very excited to see that happen,” Miller said. “We knew it was a possibility this season, and we had that goal set in our sights, and the first couple of weeks this season, we had gotten to within four or five strokes a couple times, so it was nice to check that box off of our goals this early.”
As for a chase for the team title, there was none as Garaway powered by everyone else in the field. Their 310 was 32 shots better than runner-up Marlington, followed by Findlay’s 358, Ashland’s 360, Wooster’s 365 and Medina’s 367.
Garaway was led by Sammi Miller, who tied for medalist honors with a 74, with Brooklyn
Numbers posting a 76, Sydni Prysi adding a 78 and Olivia Immel carding an 82 for the record-breaking score of 310. Garaway is so deep it tossed out scores of 83 from Hannah Steiner and 86 from Camryn Ianniello, both scores that many teams would take from their first and second players.
Miller said Numbers, Immel and Ianniello all posted personal bests in the tournament, and Sammi Miller tied her PR.
“We threw out some pretty impressive scores,” coach Miller said.
She said while the girls relished the moment and had fun celebrating, their head coach brought them back to earth by focusing on ways to go even lower.
“We recognize we left a lot of shots out there on the course,” Miller said. “Now that we’ve set the record, we’re going to keep going after it to get it lower and lower.”
Miller also said while it was a huge confidence booster for her varsity team, all of whom are only juniors, it also served as an eye-opening experience for their junior varsity five.
She said they always take the JV team on tournament trips to help them gain some understanding of what it takes to compete, and she believes they can learn and grow simply by watching and developing a better working knowledge of shot selection.
“It’s neat for them that they could be a part of this experience too,” Miller said of the JV team members. “This plants a seed in their minds and inspires them to get better so maybe they can be a part of this type of thing down the road.”
Miller said this team’s talent and depth is immense, and what has driven the team to improve throughout the years has been the personal competition that comes with each of them wanting to be the best.
“We’ve grown a lot through personal competition,” Miller said. “The girls want to work at this game and improve, and they drive each other to do so. That has been why we’ve seen such improvement.”
It doesn’t hurt that all the juniors are now three-year starters, and the sky is the limit for a group that appears poised to post a remarkable season.
Lady Pirates off
to a great start
On Tuesday, Aug. 16, the Garaway Lady Pirates took on Claymont at Big Bend Golf Course, where Garaway recorded a 156-207 victory.
Leading the Lady P’s was Brooklyn Numbers, who fired a 36. Sammi Miller added a 39, Hannah Steiner carded a 40, Olivia Immel fired a 41, Lexi Immel shot a 44, and Sara Weaver and Camryn Ianniello added 45s to show off not only Garaway’s talent, but also its depth. Claymont got a 39 from Alivia Edwards.