East High Golf - Monday, September 25, 2023

Mackenzie Wright finishes her round at Rolling Hills CC.

On Monday, September 25, the East High girls golf team got their week started right by competing in the Bishop Carroll Invitational.  This tournament is played at my favorite course in the city, Rolling Hills Country Club.  RHCC is just a classic, tree-lined course with a creek that winds through it and comes into play on numerous holes.  It is always in great condition, and it is a great experience for our girls to get to play it.  Of course, just because it's a nice play to play doesn't mean it's nice.  On the contrary, Rolling Hills is a challenging course with lots of hills, and on a hot day like today, our girls were tuckered out.  Despite all that, it was probably our best showing of the season.

Leading up to the tournament, it was questionable if Jillian Hutchinson would be able to participate.  Last week she sustained a wrist injury that kept her out of the Ark City Invitational.  She rested it and iced it religiously, in the hopes of getting to play today.  On Sunday she felt confident she'd be able to go...and then she came down with a stomach bug in the middle of the night.  In spite of a still very visible bruise on her wrist, and feeling like she might lose her lunch at any time, Jillian played all 18 holes and finished tied for 23rd with a score of 104.

Faith Mantzke turned in another solid performance, finishing T35th with a score of 111.  She had a couple of rough holes early on, but from that point on was very steady.  Olivia Sanchez shot a 119 to finish T46th.  She had some trouble on the greens, so her score doesn't truly reflect how well she hit the ball today.  If she can begin to take a few less putts, her scores are going to come down drastically.

And finally, Mackenzie Wright finished 52nd, with a score of 130.  Now, in a vacuum, those numbers may not sound all that impressive.  But Mackenzie has really been struggling, shooting nine-hole scores well above 70 for most of the season.  And when you're not shooting good scores, and you're fighting your swing, golf just isn't very fun.  But today, I think Mackenzie had fun.  She enjoyed her playing partners, and she hit the ball better than she has all year.  Her nine-holes scores of 67 and 63 were tremendous improvements over her previous results, and she shot them on the most difficult course we've played all season.  I was so happy for Mackenzie, and I know she was feeling a lot better too.

Medalist honors were shared by Kapaun freshman Ximena Sarinana, and Wamego sophomore Addison Douglass, who each shot a two-over score of 75.  Kapaun also won the team title, with East finishing 8th.  For complete individual results, click here.

I am proud of our girls performance today for several reasons.  First, they played a difficult course on a hot day and tried their absolute best.  For some of them, they played some of their best golf of the year, and on the most difficult course we've played to date, no less.  They continue to improve, which is what all coaches want to see; in fact, throughout the round all of them made suggestions on specific facets of their game that they'd like to work on.  But most importantly, I am proud of our girls for playing the game with integrity.  One of Jillian's playing partners repeatedly lied about her score, even when confronted about it.  It was a very frustrating situation for both she and I, but I found solace in the fact that our girls take seriously the integrity of both the game, and themselves.  I am so proud to be their coach.