She is one of three seniors on the Grundy Center girls golf team that ended Thursday with the early lead in the 36-hole Class 1A state tournament at Cedar Pointe Golf Course.

The Spartans lead with a 351 team score, with New London in second at 364 and BCLUW third at 389.

Lindeman shot an 80 on Thursday, and is two strokes back of New London’s Taylor Phillips on the individual leaderboard.

Three more area seniors are in medal contention — Grundy Center’s Brylee Hoeg is tied for fifth with an 87 for her first 18 holes, BCLUW’s Brooklynn Backoff is tied for seventh after carding an 88 and Grundy Center’s Avery Dirks came in with an 89 and is tied for ninth. Medals are awarded to the top 10 individuals, plus ties.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - BCLUW’s Brooklynn Backoff watches as her par putt comes up just short of the cup on the 14th green during Thursday’s opening round of play at the Class 1A girls’ state golf tournament at Cedar Pointe Golf Course in Boone.

Lindeman played in a group with Phillips on Thursday and knows her well from the youth tournament circuits outside of school competition.

“We know each other really well, and it’s always friendly competition,” Lindeman said. “When you’re playing with someone like her, it’s just fun to watch and it makes you want to be better and just rub off on each other.”

Lindeman bogeyed three of her first four holes and each of her last four holes to slip in the rankings.

“It wasn’t the most comfortable start,” Lindeman said. “I had to get my rhythm, get my swing and I finished well on the front nine and started the back nine really well. I didn’t finish the back nine the way I really wanted to, but it gives me something to push and work for tomorrow.”

On a course with narrow fairways and thick rough on the front and various hazards in the wide open spaces on the back, more often than not, putting was what bailed Lindeman out Thursday.

“I had quite a few up and downs on the back nine today just to save some pars, and even some bogeys,” Lindeman said.

Lindeman will tee off with Phillips and Backoff at 10:20 a.m. Friday.

“I just want to stay in the moment,” Lindeman said. “It’s my last round in high school and I just want to be fully present, not take anything for granted and just roll with what the course has to offer me.”

Leah Larson added the fourth score for the Spartans with a 95. Isabelle Ruth and Avery Knutsen added scores of 106 and 109, respectively.

“That fourth scorer is going to be critically important,” Gutknecht said. “I spent a little more time with our three and four and checking in with our five and six today since there’s ties and you have to be cognizant of that. But Leah is one of those girls that wants to know her team is doing well, that people are supporting each other and everyone’s doing their best. She was just so calm today, and it’s some of the best I’ve seen out of her in her mental game.”

Grundy Center head coach Heather Gutknecht said this is about where she expected the Spartans to end up from a score perspective, with improvements possible in Friday’s round.

“They’re big critics of themselves, but they’re lighthearted right now,” Gutknecht said. “They seem like they have a lot of energy left and some felt like they could go out there and golf some more right now, which is great knowing that we have 18 holes ahead of us tomorrow. We’re mentally and physically in a great spot.”

Following Backoff on the BCLUW scorecard were Lindsay Beeghly with a 94, Sydney Anderson shooting 101 and Maggie Ward carding a 106. Leah McEwen and Ainsley Geelhart had non-counting scores of 119 and 147.

Backoff, Beeghly, Anderson and Ward all returned from the BCLUW team that finished ninth in 1A last year.

That’s a big contributor to the Comets’ improvement over a couple of rounds in the 400s that they shot at the American Legion course in Marshalltown last year.

“The girls are a little more relaxed with what’s going on around them,” Simpson said. “They’re a little more amped that way.”

After a triple-bogey on the par-5 12th hole, Backoff went 2-over across the final six holes to finish strong.

“She’s worked a lot on chipping, putting, the short game, and that’s helped a lot with her,” Simpson said. “It helps with that struggle from getting to the tee to the green, because once you’re on the green you know you’ve got one or two putts and that really helps with the consistency.”

BCLUW coach Stacy Simpson has challenged the Comet girls to try and each take five strokes off their scores for the second round on Friday.

“The girls are excited about where we’re putting ourselves right now,” Simpson said. “But there were a lot of mistakes out there, penalties that we don’t want to talk about, but we have to have that discussion to see what we can do better for tomorrow.”