Anything that would put Faith Martin’s name on the leaderboard at the end of the KHSAA Girls’ State Golf Tournament would’ve been an improvement in the South Warren sophomore’s eyes.

Her first round Tuesday was good enough to ensure a medal, even if her last 18 holes of the season weren’t her best.

Martin shot a second-round 8-over-par 80 and concluded the tournament 9-over for a sixth-place finish in the state tournament held at Bowling Green Country Club.

An official top-10 finish was enough for Martin, who as a freshman was disqualified for signing a scorecard with the incorrect score that would’ve tied her for fourth.

“Definitely anything on the board is a comeback from last year,” Martin said. “I’m OK with that.”

Martin dropped three spots on the day after entering the morning tied for third and one shot off the lead.

She played better in rainy conditions Tuesday than with clear skies and warm conditions Wednesday. She had three bogeys on the front nine and three more on the back nine before a double-bogey on the par-4 No. 16. She parred out the last two holes to finish the round.

“My ball striking was off, my putting was off,” Martin said. “Overall, it’s not my best. With three holes left, I put (the driver) up and thought my 3-wood could get me in the fairway. I thought wrong. My swing was a little off and we’re still working on that.”

Martin’s sixth-place finish was six shots off individual state champion Laney Frye of Lexington Christian Academy. Frye shot 2-over Wednesday after sharing the lead at even-par in the first round.

Shelby County’s Grace Clark had the best second round of the field with a 73 and moved six spots up the leaderboard to finish second and three shots behind Frye with a two-day 149.

Region 4 individual winner Abbie Lee from Glasgow dropped five positions from Tuesday with a second-day 11-over to finish the tournament tied for 26th.

Frye, who lost to Martin in a two-hole playoff in the Greenwood Invitational earlier in the year at BGCC, helped LCA win its first state title with a two-round total of 639. Sacred Heart Academy (647) finished as the state runner-up followed by Madison Central (672), Marshall County (675) and Scott County (680) rounding out the top five.

South Warren shot a two-day 694 to place seventh for its second top-10 finish in school history.

McKenna Stahl (30-over), Lauren Holeman (37-over) and Abigail Cline (46-over) made up South Warren’s final score of the year. South Warren shot 340 on Tuesday and dropped the second round by 14 strokes for a second-day 354.

“We’ve played a lot of golf,” SWHS coach Eric Holeman said. “As I tell my kids all the time, you can’t always have your best day. If it was that easy, we’d be winning every time out. You just hope your bad rounds aren’t on the biggest stage. We didn’t play like we did yesterday and we didn’t play like we have in the past, but I’m still proud of all these girls top to bottom.”

South Warren graduates Riley Medlock from this year’s team and returns the top four scorers from the state tournament. A handful of wins early in the year and a sixth-place finish at state has Martin in position to earn First-Team All-State honors when Golf House Kentucky releases the final standings later this month.

“I started off really strong and I was pretty consistent throughout the year,” Martin said. “I had some tough rounds, but that’s golf and it happens. Overall it’s a good year.”

Team Standings

1. Lexington Christian 639

2. Sacred Heart 647

3. Madison Central 672

4. Marshall County 675

5. Scott County 680

6. Green County 691

7. South Warren 694

8. Shelby County 698

9. North Hardin 703

10. McCracken County 706

11. Ryle 718

Individual Standings

1. Laney Frye, LCA – 72-72 – 146 (+2)

2. Grace Clark, Shelby County – 76-73 – 149

3. Rylea Marcum, Scott County – 74-76 – 150

6. Faith Martin, South Warren – 73-80 – 153

T26. Abbie Lee, Glasgow – 80-83 – 163

50. Mckenna Stahl, South Warren – 83-91 – 174

T56. Lauren Holeman, South Warren – 92-89 – 181

68. Abigail Cline, South Warren – 96-94 – 190

70. Riley Medlock, South Warren – 92-103 – 195