By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Cooper enters the final round of the girls state high school golf tournament on Wednesday in second place, but the Jaguars are 15 strokes behind Louisville Sacred Heart in the team standings.
After the opening round on Tuesday at Bowling Green Country Club, the leaderboard showed Sacred Heart on top with a 301 total followed by Cooper at 316. The margin between the two teams was much closer last week when Sacred Heart won a state tournament qualifier by just three strokes, 317-320, over Cooper.
The top individual score in the first round of the state tournament was a 5-under 67 by Sacred Heart freshman Keira Yun. She had three birdies and two bogeys on the front nine and four birdies on the back nine.
Cooper junior Reagan Ramage was tied for second place with an even par 72. After getting two birdies and one bogey on the front nine, she reversed it with two bogeys and one birdie on the back nine.
The first-round scores for Cooper’s other golfers were Kendall Brissey (78), Eva Maley (81) and Ava Finke (85). All three of them are seniors playing in their final state tournament.
In last year’s state tournament, Cooper placed third in the team standings and Ramage tied for fifth place on the individual leaderboard. There’s a chance to finish higher in both this year if they play well in Wednesday’s final round.
The the list of individual qualifiers for the state tournament included four local golfers. Their first-round scores were Emma Laker of Brossart (83), Dida Jiradamkerng of Notre Dame (84), Anika Okuda of Ryle (84) and Allison Collins of Campbell County (96).
Complete results from the first round of the state tournament are on the khsaa.org website.