Columbus North’s Ava Bunker watches her tee shot on No. 5 during a match against Columbus East Tuesday at Timbergate Golf Course in Edinburgh.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Two teams hoping to finish at the top of Monday’s Bloomington North Sectional figure to be playing their best golf of the season.
Both Columbus North and Columbus East have put up their best scores of the year in the past week and will look to continue that trend when they tee it up at Cascades beginning at 8:30 a.m. Monday.
“You always want to try to peak toward the end of the year and be confident,” North coach Scott Seavers said. “I feel like we’re doing that, but when the playoffs come, the pressure rises, and we just hope to respond to that pressure and play our best.”
The Bull Dogs shot a season-best 334 at Cascades in the Saturday’s Bloomington North Invitational.
“It gave us some experience, and we know what we’re capable of,” Seavers said. “But we think we can play better than that. So everybody is going to try to cut a few strokes off their score.”
Columbus East’s Carter Gant watches her putt on No. 5 during a match against Columbus North Tuesday at Timbergate Golf Course in Edinburgh.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
East, meanwhile, carded a 367 in Saturday’s Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament at Otis Park in Bedford. The Olympians finished third, one shot ahead of 18th-ranked New Albany.
“We had a very strong showing at our conference,” East coach Kylie Weichman said. “I feel like there’s still strokes that we’ve left out there, but the girls are continuing to work hard, and I’m really excited to see how we do.”
The Olympians shot their best nine-hole score in Tuesday’s 157-171 loss to Columbus North at Timbergate.
“I think our team is certainly cutting strokes every time we go out, which is very positive to see at this time in the season,” Weichman said. “It’s what we want. It shows our hard work is paying off. I think we’ve positioned ourselves well for sectional to get out and to advance to regional, which is always a goal.”
Although there are no ranked teams in Monday’s sectional field, the Bull Dogs and East have the best two season averages. The top three teams advance to the Sept. 24 Franklin Regional.
“Based on season averages, we should be the top two teams, but we can never discount our opponents in Bloomington South and Martinsville,” Weichman said. “I think between the four of us, three of those teams will advance.”
Columbus North’s Ava Bunker is among the top golfers in the state with averages of 69. in 18-hole rounds and 33.1 for nine-hole rounds. Bunker fired a school-record 66 in Saturday’s Bloomington North Invitational.
“I think we’ll be able to do good as long as I can keep my driver good, and I’ll be able to keep everything else good,” Bunker said. “I just need to practice a lot of putting and chipping.”
Brown County and Edinburgh also will be among the 10 teams competing. The Eagles edged the Lancers on the fifth-score tiebreaker in the East Invitational at Otter Creek, but Edinburgh beat Brown County by seven shots in Wednesday’s regular-season finale at Timbergate.
The Bull Dogs will be seeking their ninth sectional title in the past 10 years. The Olympians snapped their string of eight in a row last year when they won their first sectional in 30 years.
“We always want to win, but we don’t really talk about, ‘This is our sectional,’” Seavers said. “We just want to play our best that day, and if we play our best, we can win.”
