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The Plant City Courier & Tribune

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Durant Girls Start Golf Ball Rolling

By DAREK SHARP

dsharp@tampatrib.com

Published: October 15, 2008

PLANT CITY - There's going into the postseason with momentum, and then there's what the Durant High girls golf team did last week.

In a highly anticipated matchup with Wharton, Durant pulled off a school record by shooting 157. The Cougars needed every bit of that output as Wharton played very well, too; Durant won by five strokes.

Durant came in with a 10-1 record while Wharton was 10-0 - with the Cougars' only defeat coming early in the season against Wharton.

"It was definitely exciting," Durant golf coach Dick Sheffield said. "We needed to play that well because Wharton had three girls shoot over their heads."

Amy West, who went to the state tournament as an individual last year but is hoping to have the whole team advance this time around, shot an even-par 36 while sophomore Erica Wardzinski came in with a 38 and freshman Madison Opfer shot a 39. Just as important was the effort put in by fourth-place golfer Carrie Reinhardt, who fired a 44.

Durant broke the school mark by two shots.

The match was played Oct. 7 at River Hills Country Club.

Golf gets into its postseason well before any of the other sports, and Durant, along with Plant City and 10 other squads, were to take part Monday in the District 2A-11 tournament. On the girls side, Durant and Wharton were expected to easily advance to next week's regional tourney.

Wharton and Durant have average scores that "are 25 to 30 better than anyone else in the district, and that's for nine holes," Sheffield said.

The top three teams from the district tourneys make it to the regionals, which are Monday. . At that point it gets tougher, for the Cougars must finish as one of the top two teams - with better competition - to make the Oct. 28 state tournament in Davenport.

Plant City's boys and girls were both hoping to make it out of the district level as teams, while Raider senior Kyle Martin has individual state title aspirations.

The boys play their region tourney at Wentworth Golf Club in Tarpon Springs, and the girls are at Heritage Isles Country Club in Tampa. Play in both tournaments begins at 9 a.m. Monday.

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