From a glance at the Tiger girls golf roster, one might surmise that putting together a competitive team could be somewhat of a challenge. Of the 18 varsity players, only one was an upperclassmen. Only four were enrolled in the high school; the remainder were middle schoolers.
“We had so many players start the season without any quality playing
experience,” coach Shawn Anderson said. “It took an entire season to
develop a basic level of confidence.”
Despite their youth, the Tigers improved as the season progressed and
managed to finish seventh in the final eight-team Missota Conference
standings.
“Seeing the potential was the highlight of our season,” Anderson said.
“We had a lot of young players who showed a strong interest in the
sport. Many of the girls lowered their scores and became comfortable
playing 18-hole rounds.”
Anderson awarded seven girls varsity letters: junior Alexia Rains;
sophomores Terra Klima, Alexis Chromy and Sarah Hunter; freshmen Kelli
Harstad and Paige Steele; and seventh-grader Kaitlyn O’Reilly.
Members of the junior varsity team included sophomore Chelsea Runyan;
freshmen Natalie Chromy, Megan Elliot, Molly Friedlund, Breanna
Donnelly, Ashley Kimmel and Julie Tang; eighth-graders Mariah Meeks and
Kaylene Seurer; and seventh-graders Ashley Grengs and Brianna Swenson.
Rains, who served as team captain, Klima and Harstad finished as the
top three scorers, and Rains, Klima and Steele all qualified for the
final round of the Section 1AAA individual tournament. Donnelly won the
Most Improved Player award.
With everyone coming back next season, Anderson is looking for better
things in 2010, although he cautioned that improvement will involve a
lot of hard work.
“If our girls take an interest in the game and play during the summer,
we should see great improvement in their scores,” he said. “Playing
18-hole rounds has become a point of contention with some of the young
golfers, however. They are just learning the game and then are asked to
go out and play five-, six-hour matches. It makes some of them
reconsider how important golf is in their lives.
“From my perspective as a coach, I need to find six players who are willing to commit to the sport. Time will tell.”
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