Warrick leads Fike in NEW 6 girls golf premiere
September 23, 2008 By Charles Alston of North Carolina
By Michael Lindsay
Wilson Daily Times
WILSON - While three conference girls golf teams made a step for the future, Fike's Mallory Warrick is focused on today.
In the first-ever 3-A NEW 6 Conference match, Warrick paced the Lady Warriors with a 2-over-par 73, as Fike posted a team score of 276 to lead Nash Central (349) and Southern Nash (372) on Monday at Willow Springs Country Club.
Warrick was so locked in during her round, she made her steady play look easy and quickly erased what few hiccups she had throughout her round.
"I'm very excited," said Warrick, a sophomore. "I had a couple bad holes, but I tried to keep my head in the game and just come back. I felt like I did a pretty good job of it."
After a 2-over front side, Warrick pulled back to even par with back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12. Then, after carrying the creek with her drive on 13, she double bogeyed 13, missing her too-casual tap-in for bogey.
"It was kind of hard to deal with a four-putt, but I can't do anything about it once I'm done," she said. "I just had to think, five holes ahead of me, that's five good opportunities."
On the next hole, she bounced back with a birdie and, after another bogey, finished with three straight pars to finish even on the back side and collect medalist honors.
Probably one of her biggest round-saving moments came on 16 when, after driving into the creek, Warrick dropped, then hit onto the green and drained the 15-footer for par.
"I was thinking on my drive that I'd gotten over it before, but it went over the long side," Warrick said. "But I was just thinking about hitting (my third shot) and making par.
"Then when I made that, I was excited."
Her ability to grind out a par impressed her coach, Jim Boykin Jr., too.
"That par she made was a big-league par," he said. "To have the presence of mind to know that you're playing well and to think, 'Ok, maybe I didn't get a good break,' then have the drop, the shot and the putt, that's just awesome."
Behind Warrick, Kriston Hayes carded a 47-49--96, followed by Kaitlyn Casulli (50-57--107) to give Fike the early advantage in the conference race and began to show Boykin the pieces of his team forming.
"The other girls have really stepped it up in the last week or so," he said. "We had a little talk as a team, and I think that they can realize they can do well this year as a team and get back to the states. It's good to see."
For Southern Nash, Rachel Bissette shot a 57-56--113 to lead the Ladybirds in their first-ever match. Rebecca Arnold shot a 63-59--122, and Morgan Stott came in with a 70-67--137.
"For the girls, it was the first time they'd played 18 holes, but they played well, so I was pleased," Southern Nash head coach John Matthews said. "We've still got a lot to work on, but overall I was pretty happy.
"I feel like it's a good learning experience. We see what we've got to work on, and hopefully we'll do better next time."
For Nash Central, Tori Hall posted a 57-56--113 to lead the Lady Bulldogs in their season-opener, while Megan Beal carded a 62-53-115 and Devan Cooper shot 62-58--121.
All three teams are stocked with inexperienced players -- many of whom have just recently picked up the game. But for Southern Nash's and Nash Central's players, to get their first 18-hole match and first conference match under their belts in one swoop was a big deal.
"If you'd seen them in August when practice started, you'd have thought they had won the Masters today," Lady Bulldogs head coach Randy Davis said of his team. "They've come a long way and I'm real proud of them, and they'll make an impact before the season's out."
All three teams were thrilled to get conference play, which will incorporate Hunt when the realignment kicks in next year, under way and help to build their programs.
Competing in a conference week to week will also be good for expanding the game around the area, which should in turn help their programs, and generate new interest.
"It's been growing the last 13 or 14 years, but we've kind of leveled off a little bit," Boykin said. "But they're still schools picking it up.
"If you've got four or five girls and several of them decide to go beyond the high school season, not put the clubs up, get some lessons and keep working on their game, you never know where they can take it. So it's kind of a neat thing."
The teams play twice more next month to determine the team and individual champions, but first Fike must travel to Goldsboro on Wednesday to face non-conference Eastern Wayne, while Southern Nash also has a non-conference match on Oct. 1 at Beddingfield.
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