Greenwood's Allison Wheeler hits from the fairway of the tenth hole Friday, October 6, 2017, during the KHSAA girls’ state championship tournament at the Bowling Green Country Club. (Bac Totrong/photo@bgdailynews.com)

South Warren’s Faith Martin and the Barren County team are back in the second round of the Leachman/KHSAA Girls’ State Golf Tournament after solid opening rounds Friday at Bowling Green Country Club.

Martin, who finished 16th as an individual last year, sits at ninth after a 3-over 75. Barren County, which finished 10th last year, is tied for ninth with Murray after shooting a 341. Greenwood’s Allison Wheeler also advanced to Saturday, making the cut with a 9-over 81.

Martin started the day with bogeys on two of her first three holes before settling in. She shot 1-under par over the next nine holes before closing with two bogeys and a birdie on the final six holes.

“It was solid,” Martin said. “I was a little up and down, but once I got my groove I was OK. I was definitely a lot more relaxed (than last year). I didn’t have a goal or number because that would have added more pressure. So I just kind of played and whatever happened, happened.”

While Martin advanced, the rest of the South Warren team missed the cut – finishing 12th with a team score of 359. The top 11 teams made the cut.

“I’d much rather go with the team, but I am happy going as an individual,” Martin said. “I would rather my team be with me.”

Martin said despite the team setback, she sees this as something to build on for a team that consisted of two sophomores and three freshmen. The Spartans won the region championship and advanced to the state tournament as a team for the second time in three years.

“This is a huge confidence booster,” Martin said. “We didn’t even think we could qualify, so getting here was the big accomplishment.”

South Warren coach Eric Holeman said he is proud of his team’s accomplishments this season.

“It’s a young team,” Holeman said. “We got to doing the math after the practice round yesterday and we figured we are the second-youngest team out here. There is a bright future for all five of them. Faith’s dad’s even nicknamed this team the ‘Young Guns.’ We know how young they are. They know how young they are. They are looking forward to the next couple of years.”

Barren County started slow before picking up steam on the back nine to finish the morning session right on the cut line. The Trojanettes then had to watch as the afternoon teams completed their rounds to determine if they had done enough to play another day.

Jill Florence led Barren County with an 82. Cortney Withrow shot an 84, while Mikayla Wyatt finished with an 85.

“It was a tough start,” Barren County coach Duane Withrow said. “I don’t know if it was nerves (or what). That 10th hole (the first hole Barren County played) is tough. We had a bad little stretch of holes, but after we got through that I think everybody improved on the front nine. We shot the same exact score we shot in the region tournament. I’m real proud of these girls. The golf course is really tough today. The wind is picking up and the greens are a lot quicker than they were in the practice round.”

While Wheeler, the individual region champion, made the cut, teammate Sydney Durrant just missed after shooting an 83 to fall two shots off the individual cut line.

Defending state champion Sacred Heart is the team leader after one day, shooting a 302. Sacred Heart has a commanding 23-shot lead over second place Lexington Christian.

Barbourville’s Whitney Messer and Sacred Heart’s Ryan Bender finished as the individual co-leaders after both shot a 1-under 71 in the opening round.

The second round will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday at Bowling Green Country Club.{&end}