Lady Wildcats turn in season best performances at regional golf meet
Compared to last year, any outcome at the regional tournament would have been better for the Holton girls golf team.
Last fall, the Wildcats slogged through some miserable weather that greatly affected the team’s final results.
It was a night and day difference in Meriden on Tuesday, as Holton and the rest of its regional competition had perfect weather at Village Greens Golf Course and the Wildcats were perhaps energized by that.
While coach Dennis Tegethoff noted scores routinely go up at the regional meet, with stricter scoring rules, Holton was unaffected and nearly every golfer turned in their best score of the season in regional competition.
For one, that meant a repeat trip to the Class 4A state tournament, as senior Quinn Holaday finished in the top 10 at the meet to qualify individually.
“I couldn’t be more proud of her. There’s never been a doubt what her goal was from day one when our season started,” Tegethoff said. “Making that trip as a team when she was a sophomore just kind of lit a fire under her and she’s just really worked at her game since then.”
“This is the third year in a row that she’s got to go. Once as a team and two times as an individual is quite the accomplishment, especially from where she started two year ago,” Tegethoff said.
Where Holaday started is similar to where a number of the freshmen on the varsity squad started this year, which is to saw she was a raw talent, according to her coach.
Eventually, Holaday made progress much the same way that Taylor Stevens has continued to push forward this season. Stevens came so far so fast that she almost joined Holaday in qualifying individually before falling just two spots short.
While Stevens started the season with some raw power, which has helped her game, Tegethoff noted she has also worked on other areas to help her rapid ascent.
“When she’s getting off the tee well, her game’s pretty good,” Tegethoff said. “She’s worked on her approach and she’s worked on her chipping and putting. It just kind of started to pay off all the way down the stretch and she just really put it together Tuesday.”
Cali Smith and Faith Holaday made similar strides and while Sarah Holaday had a rough front nine, Tegethoff noted he was proud of how she finished out the tournament on the tougher back nine.
Tegethoff noted the team was peaking at the right time and that showed on Tuesday. as the Wildcats finished five strokes out of third place, and he is hoping that provides some motivation for the fairly young group looking ahead to the future.
“To make up as many shots as we made over the course of the year to some of those teams was just truly amazing and says a lot about the girls and how hard they work and how well they competed Tuesday,” Tegethoff said. “We’ve got four of those five back and we’ve got some other young golfers who I hope get that same fire lit under them, so maybe we can get back in the mode of maybe getting a team back to state again and that’s without a doubt going to be our goal.”
Senior Quinn Holaday is the lone HHS golfer who will not be returning next year and she will try to wrap up her high school golf career with one more medal while competing at the 4A state meet in Hays on Monday. Tee times start at 9 a.m.
4A Regional @ Village Greens
Team results:
1. Hayden 351, 2. Spring Hill 374, 3. KC Piper 415, 4. Basehor-Linwood 418, 5. Clay Center 420, 6. Holton 420, 7. Jeff West 430
Individual results:
1. Grunet (Hay.) 82, 2. Zuk (BM) 85, 3. Ingold (SH) 89, 4. Miller (SH) 89, 5. Vausbinder (Hay.) 89, 6. Setter (Hay.) 89, 7. Blenden (Hay.) 91, 8. Crotchet (SH) 93, 9. Q. Holaday (HHS) 93, 10. Jones (KCP) 96
Other HHS results:
Stevens- 102
F. Holaday- 111
Smith- 114
S. Holaday 123
