East High Golf - Tuesday, September 19/Thursday, September 21, 2023
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| Faith Mantze tees off at the Ark City Invitational |
While MacDonald is our home course, that doesn't mean it's easy for us. Or anyone, for that matter. Girls from many schools struggled with the undulating greens, numerous trees, and water hazards. MacDonald is a stern test, to be certain.
For East High, the golfer who was most up to the challenge was senior Jillian Hutchinson. She finished T14 by shooting a 53. Her solid bogey-bogey finish on her final two holes included putting her tee shot on the green at the par-three ninth, and then smashing a drive right down the middle on number one. Oh, and she did all this after one of her playing partners inadvertently shanked a shot and hit her in the wrist. Yes, Jillian played the the final six holes of her round with a possible fractured wrist. She was in a lot of pain, but she finished her round and posted the third-best score among Wichita Public School golfers. I was extremely proud of her.
The aforementioned MacDonald Golf Course did have a few casualties on the day. The rest of our varsity squad did their best, but most of them finished the day disappointed in the outcome. Faith Mantzke shot 62 and finished 24th. Olivia Sanchez shot 67 to finish T26th. And Mackenzie Wright finished 31st with a score of 70. As a team, East High finished in fourth place with a team score of 252.
At the top of the varsity leaderboard were two freshman: Ximena Sarinana from Kapaun, who finished first with an even-par 36; and second place finisher Alina Lam from Southeast, who shot a 40. For complete varsity results, click here.
Our JV girls enjoyed their rounds on Tuesday, for a couple of reasons: they are getting better, which obviously makes the game more fun; and each of them enjoyed the girls from other schools that they were playing with. Golf is so much fun when you are in good company. Whenever I checked on these girls, they seemed to be enjoying themselves, which warmed my heart. Francesca Tartler finished 15th with a score of 72. Brooklyn Brandon and Haylie Bustos each shot 73 to finish T16th. All three of these girls are brand-new to the game and have shown tremendous improvement as the season has gone along. It has been fun to watch. For complete JV results, click here.
On Thursday, September 21, four of our golfers headed to the Ark City Invitational. I will tell you about the golf here in moment, but before and after the tournament, carpool karaoke was in full effect. For nearly the entire trip, both to Ark City and back, we had music playing and girls singing at the top of their lungs. If doing such a thing wouldn't have been totally weird, I would've sang along with them. But instead, I just smiled and soaked it in. Not everyone may agree with me, but there is something joyous and life-affirming about hearing a teenage girls sports team singing their hearts out. It was the most fun I've had in awhile.
Not only was there singing, but there was even a little bit of music education/appreciation going on. They learned that "Ms. Jackson" by Outkast was one of my favorite songs in college, and that "...Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears has also been around since my first year at K-State. They found out that "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper is nearly as old as I am, and that, while the song "Tennessee Orange" by Megan Moroney might kind of be about a boy, it's really a song about college football. Oh, the things you learn when riding to golf tournaments with your 43-year-old coach.
In between these two talent show auditions, East High played a little golf. And actually did it fairly successfully. Throughout the nine-hole round there were lots of positive things going on with our girls. Faith Mantzke told me she hoped to have nothing worse than a 7 anywhere on her scorecard. Mission accomplished. Faith hit the ball very well, and shot a 54 (an eight-stroke improvement over her round on Tuesday) and finished T9th, good enough to earn her first ever medal as a golfer!
Freshman Olivia Sanchez got off to a bit of rough start, but then settled in and started to hit the ball well. Over her final four holes, she was only three-over par, which included pars on two of those holes, and a near par on a third. She felt really good about her round, and for good reason. Olivia shot a 57 to finish T14th.
If you see Mackenzie Wright, please tell her to hang in there. Currently she is going through one of the roughest stretches I have ever seen a golfer experience. She is having a hard time figuring our her swing, so golf is pretty frustrating for her right now. But I am so proud of her because she continues to go out there with a positive attitude and try her best, in spite of all the frustration she is experiencing. According to the online results, Mackenzie finished 12th with a score of 55. But we think she shot a higher score than that.
Haylie Bustos played on varsity for the first time in her brief golfing career, and got her round off to a spectacular start by hitting her drive on the par-three 17th hole ten yards left of the green, then chipping on to give her a chance at par. Despite ending up with a bogey, she (and I) felt really good about it. I was also proud of her for enduring one of the more annoying playing partners in recent memory. Haylie shot a 72 and finished 24th. As a team, East High finished in 4th place with a score of 238. For complete results, click here.
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