By Mike May
One of the more interesting team stories at this year’s IHSAA Girls Golf State Finals was the Lady Grizzly Cubs from Franklin Community High School, coached by Ted Bishop and Crystal Morse. Franklin’s home course is the Legends Golf Club in Franklin where Bishop is the club’s general manager and Morse is the head golf professional.
The Lady Grizzly Cubs qualified as a team for this year’s IHSAA Girls Golf State Finals for the first time since 1999. FCHS Girl’s team did not qualify for the state tournament the last two years, but in 2021, then senior Ava Ray was third as an individual. Last year, freshman Lexi Ray finished in a sixth-place tie.
This year’s five players from FCHS were Ray, now a sophomore; sophomore Addison Bright; junior Reese Phillips; senior Addison Livorno; and senior Kara Heuchan.
After the first round, Ray shot a 79 (+7); Bright had a 78 (+6); Phillips recorded an 85 (+13); Livorno shot an 88 (+16); and Heuchan concluded her round at 135 (+43). For every team at the IHSAA’s Girls State Golf Finals, the scores of the top four players are counted for the team total. Ray produced a solid 15 holes with 14 pars and a bogey, but three double-bogeys affected her score.
In the second and final round, the team had a similar score (337) to round one (330). Ray shot 77 (155; +11; tie for 19th place); Bright had an 81 (159: +15; tie for 28th place); Livorno shot 87 (175; +31; 62nd place); Phillips recorded a 92 (177; +33; tied for 64th place); and Heuchan improved by nine shots to register a 98 (205; +61; tie for 97th).
Both Morse and Bishop were proud of their players’ performances in Carmel.
“Coach Bishop and I are extremely proud of the effort and overall performance of our team,” said Morse. “It was our goal from the very beginning of the season to build team culture centered around the theme “We Are Family” and with the leadership of our two seniors, Addie Livorno and Kara Heuchan, our team came together and will go down as one of the best teams in Franklin Community School history. Competing at the (IHSAA) State Finals for the first time in 24 year, the Grizzlies came away finishing eighth in the state. We hope this is just the beginning of a long stretch of State Finals appearances.”
According to Bishop, his team set a goal at the beginning of the season and that mission was accomplished.
“We set a goal from day one of going to the IHSAA State Girls Golf Finals,” said Bishop. “We had great support this week from friends and family as we prepared for Friday and Saturday. These girls will never forget this week or this season. It was the 11th time that FCHS girls have gone to State. It was the first time since 1999.”
Going into the IHSAA State Girls Golf Finals, the overall record for FCHS was 108-21 (.837) with a school record 312.4 scoring average.
