GOLF: PCHS's McDaniel earns third trip to State
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville junior Heather McDaniel will make her third straight trip to the IHSA Class A State Girls Golf Finals after shooting an 80 at Tuesday's Carterville Sectional to finish in a tie for third amongst advancing individuals, fourth overall.
McDaniel shot 40 on both nines with a birdie at the 17th, missing out on a birdie at No. 18 by about an inch after finding the green on her approach shot from the rough.
"I basically just felt that I had it in the bag," McDaniel said of her birdie putt at No. 17, "I was making those putts all day, to save for either par or bogey, so I felt that one."
"On (No. 18), just from making a birdie (at No. 17), and hitting my second shot from in the trees onto the green from 150 (yards) out I was feeling that putt too. It was just an inch from the hole, which is always aggravating, but you can't really get too aggravated about a par."
All four members of McDaniel's playing group on Tuesday are going to Decatur, in fact. Jessa Handwerk (Harrisburg) took the Sectional Medal at Crab Orchard Golf Course with a 74, and Hillsboro's Hannah Luckett (82) and Columbia's Allie Leingang (82) also made the top ten. Handwerk, Luckett and McDaniel all finished in the top eight at the 2010 state tournament.
Teams from Nashville (355), Massac County (368) and Okawville (369) will also be advancing on from the Carterville to the State Finals, held at Red Tail Run Golf Course this Friday and Saturday.
McDaniel's Lady Panthers teammate Olivia Mathis, who earned her spot in the Sectional with an 87 at last week's Regional, shot a 108 on Tuesday.
McDaniel will get a practice round at Red Tail Run on Thursday before teeing off some time on Friday morning for the first of two 18-hole rounds.
When asked how she'll prep for the weekend's State Finals, McDaniel said "I'll be doing a lot of short game and homework."
McDaniel finished in a tie for sixth at the 2010 State Finals as a sophomore, and was 35th as a freshman in 2009.
Other individuals advancing from Tuesday's Carterville Sectional include Taylor Goodley (79, Eldorado), Nicole Johnson (80, Atlhoff), Kendra Kessler (82, Sparta), Morgan Mayberry (84, Bethalto Civic Memorial), Abby Bergkoetter (85, Freeburg), and Raechelle Leiken (86, Vandalia).
Only Handwerk, Goodley, and Nashville's Shawn Rennegarbe (78) scored better than McDaniel on Tuesday.
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