While it was business as usual for Kyleigh Harnsberger, Davie’s golf team got a huge boost from Caroline Bliss in the Central Piedmont Conference opener at Pine Knolls in Kernersville on Aug. 29.

Hugely talented Reagan shot even-par 108 to run away with first place. Reynolds (120) and West Forsyth (132) were next. Davie (134) was only two strokes behind the Titans because three War Eagles, including Annika McDaniel, broke 50 in the same match for the first time in three years. Glenn (140) and East Forsyth (144) rounded out the team scores.

It doesn’t qualify as breaking news, but Harnsberger sparkled with a 3-over 39 to place eighth out of 30 players. It was the sophomore’s third 39 in as many matches. The 3-over is Davie’s best individual round in three years. (Coach Bob Donley’s daughter, Meghan, shot 3-over 38 in 2015.) Harnsberger’s the first War Eagle to break 40 in three straight matches in eight years. (Gabby Chaloupkova, who spent one year at Davie as an exchange student from Czech Republic, shot 2-under 34, even 36 and 4-over 39 consecutively in 2010.) She also birdied for the second match in a row.

McDaniel came up big with an 11-over 47. She’s been remarkably consistent for a freshman, following up 48 and 46 in her first two Davie matches.

But it takes three solid numbers to make a respectable showing, and Davie finally got that much-needed lift from Bliss. The sophomore played soccer as a freshman. She missed the 2018 opener due to family vacation, then debuted with a 21-over 56 at Bermuda Run West. She picked up some mojo with a 12-over 48 at Pine Knolls.

The last time three War Eagles got under 50 was in 2015 at Pudding Ridge, when Donley shot 42 and Brooke Sornig and Abby Hines produced 43s. Things are trending nicely, Davie going from 50-over on Aug. 14 to 36-over on Aug. 23 to 26-over at Pine Knolls.

“Caroline played golf at Ellis with Kyleigh and Annika, but she also played soccer and tried that as a freshman,” coach Donley said. “I found out about her from coach (Allen) Schill at Ellis when I went to watch Annika play last spring. (Schill) told me she was thinking about playing golf this fall. I and the girls reached out to her, and she confirmed that she wanted to play.”