Hatter earns all-state honor, leads Jeff to eighth place

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The Lafayette Jeff girls golf team made the most out of its “rebuilding year,” as Samantha Hatter and Lindsey Burklow shot sub-80 rounds Saturday to lead the Bronchos an eighth place tie in the IHSAA state championship tournament at The Legends Golf Club.

The finish was the team’s best under coach John Hatter, who took over in 2007. The Bronchos tied fellow Hoosier Crossroads Conference member Zionsville with a two-day team score of 672.

Yorktown won the state title with a 625. Chesterton’s Kelly Grassel, who tied for second in the Lafayette Regional last weekend, successfully defended her 2011 state title with a score of 137, including a tournament-best 68 Saturday.

Under the new format, all of the participants played the second day of competition instead of just the top nine. Jeff, though, finished the first day in a tie for sixth place with Valparaiso, which would have made the Bronchos eligible to play the second day under the old format regardless.

“For everyone thinking this was a rebuilding year for us, collectively, this is probably the best team I’ve taken to the state tournament,” John Hatter said. “That was something nobody thought was possible and they got it done. It was all due to their effort, and I wish I could keep coaching all five of them.”

The performance comes on the heels of Jeff winning its first regional title since 2002 last week at the Battle Ground Golf Course.

“We weren’t playing our best golf two weeks before postseason, then all of the sudden they just turned it on,” John Hatter said. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more out of them the last two days. That’s all we got right there. It was a great effort.”

Samantha Hatter shot a 4-over-par 76 and was selected to the all-state team. Burklow shot a 7-over 79. Jeff’s No. 5 golfer, Lindsey Burkhardt, the lone senior on the team, wrapped up her career with a 92. Her 175 total was the third best on the team. It was Burkhardt’s 83 on Friday that helped move Jeff up the leaderboard on the first day.

“I think I played to the best of my ability on most of the holes,” Burkhardt said. “I wanted to come out and show people that I did deserve to be on varsity this year. I never played in the state tournament before, so to be here and compete was great.”

The future seems bright for Jeff. Burklow is a junior, while Hatter, Abbie Carlsen (184) and Maryn Hamilton (214) are sophomores. Hatter said she learned from playing with 2011 all-state golfers Harley Dubsky of Valparaiso and Kayla Katterhenry of Castle on Saturday. Dubsky finished third at 143 and Katterhenry tied for fourth with a 144.

“It was a great experience playing with them and watching what they do,” Hatter said. “I know I’ll never be able to hit it as far as they do, but there are other things that I can do to adapt.”

All season, Hatter and Burklow provided the Bronchos with a potent 1-2 punch on the leaderboard. Hatter’s 154 tied her for 19th place and Burklow’s 159 tied her for 29th.

“It was great for us a team to come out there and play the way we did,” said Samantha Hatter, who was the sectional medalist and tied for second in the Lafayette Regional. “We’re going to miss our senior but we’re looking forward to next year to see what we can do. We’re going to be working hard over the winter to be ready.”

Burklow said while Jeff completed one of its best seasons, she is looking forward to what the team can do next year. She believes she could have played better.

“I started off rough but finally calmed down and played well,” Burklow said. “I couldn’t get the speed of my putts right and then it started to get windy. It feels great to accomplish something so big. Our goal was to be in the top 10 and we made it.”

Central Catholic freshman Morgan Brown carded back-to-back 81s (162) to finish in 34th place.