Highlands Invitational Round-Up

Toole Finishes Third for Highlands Girls

Highlands freshman Bailey Markus watches after a shot in a recent tournament.

The Highlands Bluebirds golf teams partook in their own OrthoCincy Highlands Invitational on Wednesday.

The Highlands boys finished third out of 16 teams. St. Henry won it shooting a 295 and Mason County shot a 299 to win the tournament.

The Highlands boys shot a 305. Senior Luke Muller shot a two-over par 73 to finish tied for seventh and senior Justin Gabbard followed with a 74 to finish tied for 10th. Sophomore Joel Craft shot 76 to finish tied for 16th and junior Jack Schneider hit 82 to round out the scoring. Schneider tied for 39th out of 82 golfers at AJ Jolly Golf Course.

Eighth grader Hank Shick also played in the event for the Bluebirds. He shot an 86 to tie for 44th.

The Highlands girls finished seventh out of nine teams shooting a 392. Louisville Sacred Heart ran away with 315 outdistancing Grant County at 341.

But junior KJ Toole shot an even part of 73 to take third out of 56 golfers. That marked her personal best of the season.

"We've all been grinding recently, especially with all the tournaments coming up," Toole said. "We like to look at the tournaments not only as good practice, but as a good way to get better for the fall when region rolls around. It all just came together (Wednesday). I was able to put my drives out there and leave easy pit shots into the green to get myself to birdie puts (one-under par) or walk away with pars."

Senior Ellie Rowland finished eighth with an 82. Eighth Grader Jenna Richey shot a 115 to finish 47th and freshman Bailey Markus shot a 122 to finish 51st to round out the Highland scoring. The fifth golfer in junior Helen Helbauer finished 53rd with 126.

Both teams play in the Beechwood Invitational on Thursday at Hickory Sticks Golf Club in California, Kentucky. Tee time is 7 a.m. for the boys and 12:30 p.m. for the girls.