By Matt Moss

Sports Editor

There was no place like home for the Oak Harbor girls golf team on Monday.

Led by top-5 individual finishes by Kate Waller, Camille Merritt, and Tiffany Gordon at Whidbey Golf & Country Club, the Wildcats totaled 212 points, good enough for third place on the day behind Lake Stevens (225 points) and Snohomish (219).

When the divots settled and the calculations were made, Monroe ended up winning the Division title with 34 points collected over the course of the season. Oak Harbor finished in third with 31 points, just one behind Lake Stevens for second.

“Woulda, could, shoulda, “ said Oak Harbor head coach Scott McPhee. “If we could have done some things a little different we would have won it. At least we had two girls place in the top-five and get all-league.”

Waller collected 115 stableford points over the two rounds to take second place in league, 15 points behind Cascade sophomore Rachel Skidmore for first. Oak Harbor sophomore Camille Merritt scored 54 points to place third in Monday’s event. Combined with the 44 points that she scored in the first round that was played last Wednesday at Snohomish Golf Course, Merritt rallied to place fourth in league.

“Camille had a great day,” McPhee said. “That was the biggest news – that she was able to move from eighth to fourth place and make all-league.”

Gordon’s 52 points on Monday was good enough to move her into the league top-10. The senior scored 40 points at Snohomish and placed ninth overall. The Wildcats were the only team to have three golfers ranked in the top 10.

The other Wildcat golfers who scored points on Monday were Katie Ellis with 26 and Melissa Ortolani with 24.

Waller shot an 89 in stroke play for the round, which included back-to-back triple bogeys on nine and ten. After those two holes she settled down and was just five-over in the last eight holes.

“Kate didn’t play as well as she would have liked,” McPhee said. “She’s frustrated but we will figure out what’s going on.”

There’s no rest for Waller and the rest of the Wildcat golfers as the first round of the District 1 tournament begins today. Oak Harbor will once again have an advantage as the first round is being played at nearby Gallery Golf Course beginning at 9 a.m. Though it isn’t the Cats’ home course, the girls have played it many times, according to McPhee.

“They’ve gone out to practice there,” he said. “Kate and Tiffany have played Gallery a lot and Camille played there last weekend.”

The district tournament will consist of approximately 95 golfers from the Wesco North and South divisions, with 40 making the cut to advance to the second round at Kayak Point next Monday. From there the top 15 will make it to the state tournament in the Tri-Cities on May 20-21. McPhee believes that his top three have just as good chance as anyone of going on to the 4A state tournament.

“Kayak is one of the toughest courses in the state, but if they can play at Gallery like they did on Monday all three can go to state,” he said. “I think they’ll come out in good shape.”

Wesco North Division Tournament – Round 2

At Whidbey G&CC

18 holes, par 73

Stableford scoring

Team results-Lake Steven 225, Snohomish 219, Oak Harbor 212, Monroe 197, Mount Vernon 190, Cascade 181, Stanwood 181, Marysville-Pilchuck 174, Arlington 65.

Individual results-1. Skidmore (C) 65, 2. Waller (OH) 56, 3. Merritt (OH) 54, 4. Nishikawa (LS) 53, 5. Gordon (OH) 52, 6. (tie) Soraparu (S), Jensen (C) 49, 8. (tie) Sigman(LS), Dorn (S) 47, 10. (tie) Martinez (LS), Westerman (M) 45.

OH individual scores: Waller 56, Merritt 54, Gordon 52, Ellis 26, Ortalani 24.