RENO - Elayna Shine picked up where she left off last season, shooting an 87 to lead Carson High to a season opening win at the first Sierra League tournament of the season at Thunder Canyon Country Club Tuesday afternoon.
Carson scored a 379, 16 shots better than second-place Bishop Manogue. Galena took third with 410. Whitney Nash (96), Heather Evans (97) and Lindsay Burroughs (99) were the other Carson players whose scores counted. Allison Vondrak had a non-scoring 106 and Katie Livermore had a 117.
Douglas standout Bethany Wurster was the medalist with a 5-over-par 77 on the par-72 5,522-yard layout, while Manogue's Elise Levy aced the 118-yard 8th hole en route to a fourth-place 88.
Shine finished last year with an 84 in sub-par conditions. In pristine conditions on Tuesday she shot one of the best rounds of her young career. She recorded seven pars, including five on the back where she shot a solid 42.
"I hit it straight and kept it in play," Shine said. "I wasn't hitting the ball that far off the tee, but I was getting on the greens when I needed to, and I was executing my putts. I was happy.
"I hope everybody on the team continues to improve, and we continue to fight."
So does coach Terry Gingell.
"I'm very happy," the Carson coach said. "We've got a strong team top to bottom. They are working hard and playing well. There is still room for improvement.
"Elayna had a great round. It was between 11 and 15 shots from where she was at the first tournament last year. This is a not an easy course. The greens are good, but tough to putt on and there is a lot of trouble out there."
Nash was impressive through the first eight holes, recording pars on the first two par-5s and at the par-4 7th. However, she took a double-bogey 7 on No. 9 to make the turn in 45.
After a bogey at No. 10, Nash parred the par-4 306-yard 11th and then bogeyed the par-3 12th after her tee shot landed green-high and to the right. She chipped on and two-putted. She tripled No. 13 and doubled No. 14, and limped home on the back with a 51.
"I don't think I was aggressive enough on the back nine," Nash said. "I was playing tentative golf, I was trying to guide the ball pretty much.
"I was happy with how I played on the front nine."
Wurster, the top player in the league and headed to Oregon State next fall, got off to a rough start when she yanked her tee shot on No. 1 into a lateral hazard. She double-bogeyed No. 1 and No. 5, but other than that was brilliant.
"It (the round) was OK for not playing my A game," Wurster said. "It was all right. I had a few three putts."
Wurster had putts of 1, 10 and 4 feet for birdie on Nos. 9, 11 and 15.
The second Sierra League tournament is set for Tuesday at Empire Ranch, Carson's home course, starting at noon.
Sierra league golf
at Thunder Canyon
Team scores - Carson 379, Manogue 395, Galena 400, Douglas 440, Wooster 517
Top individuals - Wurster (DHS) 77, Shine (C) and Jones BM) 87, Levy (BM) 88, Ortez (Galena) 92.