For the Democrat-Herald

WOODBURN - West Albany High sophomore Katie Ortman doesn’t really think about playing for an individual state championship.

But you can sure bet if she is in contention toward the end of today’s final round of the OSAA 5A state girls golf tournament, she will be tough to beat.

Ortman is in second, three shots behind Pendleton’s McKennon Cimmiyotti, who is the first-day leader after an 82.

“I’m just not really thinking about it right now,” Ortman said Monday after battling some fast greens to shoot an 85. “I’m taking it one day at a time and seeing what happens.

“I know if I think about it, I’ll probably screw up and I don’t want that to happen,” she added with a smile.

Said coach Jim Phillips: “Katie is in position where she’s going to have a run at winning and that’s what it’s all about. She’s done a good job and put herself in position and we’ll go from there.”

Ortman, who held off Crescent Valley’s Hayley Brown for last week’s Mid-Willamette Conference district title, won’t have the same luxury of playing against the golfer closest to her.

Cimmiyotti teed off at 8:33 a.m., while Ortman went off at 9:18 a.m. and in the final group.

Still, she will take the confidence gained from last week into today.

“I know it will because I have potential to do it and I just have to come out in the end and do it,” she said.

A team state title may be tough to come by for Ortman and the Bulldogs, who struggled during Monday’s first round.

The Bulldogs put up what Phillips thought may have been their worst round of the season, shooting a 397.

That left the Bulldogs 28 shots behind leader Bend. Crook County was second with a 385. MWC rival Crescent Valley was at 400 in fourth.

“If we’d of shot the scores we shot last week, we’d be right with them,” Phillips said, alluding to the 378 and 361 the Bulldogs shot at the same course to capture the district title with a 739.

“So district scores would put us right in it. We didn’t play near as well (Monday) as we have been. I think the greens were a lot fatser and I think starting at 7:30 was not an advantage for us either, but that’s the way it goes.

“We just have to play better (Tuesday) and come back and see if we can do what we do. We just have to see how it goes (Tuesday). That’s why you play two days.”

Teams scores: Bend 369, Crook County 385, West Albany 397, Crescent Valley 400, Glencoe 407, Thurston 453, Liberty 454, Cleveland 462, Marshfield 463, Crater 528, Ashland 536

Top 10: McKennon Cimmiyotti (Pendleton) 82, Katie Ortman (West Albany) 85, Chelsey Lind (Mountain View) 86, Katie Zajicek (Corvallis) 86, Brittany Bruening (Bend) 87, Jennifer Hilts (Bend) 89, Soojii Namgung (Glencoe) 89, Caitlyn Doyle (Crescent Valley) 91, Amanda Estrada (Glencoe) 91, Kaitlyn Oster (Liberty) 91

West Albany scores: Katie Ortman 42-43—85, Kara Hartman 50-49—99, Hailey Thomas 50-52—102, Kristine Draper 58-53—111, Sarah Rudzik 60-54—114

Crescent Valley scores: Caitlyn Doyle 42-48—91, Hayley Brown (46-47—93, Shannon Miller 49-53—102, Jessie Willes 58-56—114, Char Grossnicklaus 58-60—118

Corvallis scores: Katie Zajicek 44-42—86, Kayla Laney 52-59—111, Karly Laney 61-57—118