After a tremendous three day total of 1-under-par, 215, 14 year-old Erica Shepherd of Greenwood claimed her first Girls State Junior Championship title at Twin Lakes GC in Carmel. Shepherd bettered the field by eight strokes, with runner-up Cailyn Henderson of Westfield finishing at 7-over-par.
Shepherd began the event with six birdies during her opening round coming on holes 1, 9, 12, 15, 16 and 18. Her lone bogey of the day came on the par-4, 3rd. Though tee times were delayed due to inclement weather, Shepherd’s round was unaffected as she coasted to an eight shot lead.
On day two, Shepherd began with an opening birdie on the par-5, 1st setting the pace for another day of solid play. After a string of a pars, Shepherd made birdie on the par-4, 7th to move to 7-under-par for the event.
Although she ran into a bit of trouble early on the back nine, Shepherd capped off her round with birdies on holes 17 and 18 to post a two day total of 3-under-par, 141.
The final day of the event brought blue skies and perfect conditions at Twin Lakes and Shepherd jumped out of the gate with another opening birdie. For the remainder of the day she kept her momentum alive, posting a final round total of 2-over-par, 74 and finishing the event at 1-under-par.
Just a freshman in high school at Center Grove, Shepherd has an impressive resume with wins in her age division at the 2014 Indiana Section Junior PGA as well as the 2014 Girls Team Championship along with partner Morgan Dabagia. Shepherd also grabbed her first IWGA title last season at the IWGA Golf Championship at Otter Creek GC in Columbus.
Alexis Miestowski, Schereville finished in a tie for third with Rachel Johnson, Anderson and Maggie Rees, Carmel at 12-over-par.