MARYSVILLE — In league matches of girls golf, Cascade Conference competition doesn’t get much tougher than Cedarcrest and South Whidbey.

So while the Lakewood girls lost to the Red Wolves by the narrowest margin at Cedarcrest Golf Course April 9 — 78-77 — this Cougar golf team is as competitive as it has ever been.

“That was as good a match as we’ve played against Cedarcrest since we had a team,” said Lakewood coach Chris Walster.

Cedarcrest returned three girls from last year’s state tournament, but Lakewood senior Peyton Mizell beat them all to be medalist for the match with a 24-point performance. She birdied on three of the four first holes as the two teams faced off on the front nine of the Marysville-area golf course. Fellow senior Kelsey Gann earned four Stableford points for a birdie on the eighth hole, resulting in a 13-point finish. Sophomore Kayley Mizell took second for Lakewood with a 16-point game.

While the team has had better scores in other matches, it was the team’s best play at their home course so far this season their best play by far, according to Walster.

“This was good, that we were able to do this well against Cedarcrest,” he said.

More impressively, the team accomplished the competitive finish with two rookie freshmen on the team. Neither Kaylee Diggs or Chelsea Blackwood had played the sport before, but Diggs earned 10 points and Blackwood had nine with Lakewood’s sixth-best performance. While the team scores were determined by the sum of the top five scorers on each team, a tie would have put the win in the hands of the sixth golfer. Blackwell had three points on Cedarcrest’s sixth.

A key hole for her was the third where she bogeyed, earning three points. Jessica Spears was third for Lakewood with 14 points.

The girls faced stiff competition April 13 when they visited South Whidbey. The contest took place after the Globe/Times went to press.

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