Platte County finished just one stroke outside of the top 10 in Thursday’s Staley Invitational, which served as the Pirates’ season-opener and debut of first-year head coach Kevin Janssen.
Platte County sophomore Ainsley Habel watches a shot during the Staley Invitational on Thursday at Hodge Park Golf Course in Kansas City.
A total of 15 teams slogged through oppressively hot conditions at Hodge Park Golf Course in Kansas City. Raymore-Peculiar finished first in the standings with a 316, while Platte County shot a 407 and placed 11th overall.
Blue Springs took 10th with a 406.
Platte County sophomore Naomi Loehner made a successful debut as the new No. 1 in this season’s lineup. She shot a 14-over 86, recovering from an opening triple bogey at No. 8 while carding eight pars — four on the final five holes.
“I think I did OK,” Loehenr said. “I can definitely do some work on my driver and my chipping, but other than that, I did pretty good. My putting was pretty good, and I dropped a lot of putts today.”
Loehner finished 15th out of 79 golfers, while junior Ainsley Habel (33rd, 97), senior Lila Sedlacek (54th, 108) and junior Finnley Dougan (71st, 116) rounded out Platte County’s team score. The Pirates also debuted freshman Holland Porschen (117) at No. 5. Habel made three pars in her first 18 of the season.
The top four players have all played at least one season at the varsity level with Dougan a third-year contributor.
Loehner takes over Platte County’s top spot after the graduation of Grace Handke, a two-time state qualifier. She played No. 2 most of last season with the Pirates failing to advance an individual out of Class 4 District 4 in the program’s first season playing up at that level.
Platte County found out nearly a week earlier about a drop back down to Class 3 District 4, which should benefit this year’s still-developing lineup. Loehner, Dougan and Habel all played in last year’s postseason.
