Senior Joellen Vogt places her ball on the green to line up her putt at the Frontier League tournament Tuesday afternoon. Vogt shot a 40 in the nine-hole tournament to take home the league champion title. " />
Senior Joellen Vogt places her ball on the green to line up her putt at the Frontier League tournament Tuesday afternoon. Vogt shot a 40 in the nine-hole tournament to take home the league champion title.
For the first time in school history, the Cardinals girls golf team are Frontier League champions.
The team shot a combined score of 188 at the Frontier League nine-hole tournament Tuesday. Senior Joellen Vogt placed first individually to be crowned league champion after she led the team with a 40.
Vogt said it means a lot to her to earn the top spot after coming up just short last season.
“It feels good. I missed league champion by two strokes last year and that was very frustrating. It feels good to end on a good note,” she said.
Vogt said she couldn’t be more proud of how the team performed Tuesday as well.
“We all had pretty good days,” Vogt said. “I mean, we all have our mess up holes, which happens to everybody, but I think it went really well.”
Three other members of the team earned medals by finishing in the top 12 along with Vogt. Sophomore Marleigh Grant placed third with a 43. Junior Brette Hayden shot a 52, which was good for 10th. Senior Olivia Lawhorn finished in 12th with a 53.
Freshman Brooklynn Akers and senior Abigail Kennedy shot a 53 and 65, respectively, too.
Head coach Susan DeVoe said for the team to have four medalists is credit to the golfers putting in the practice time.
“That is hard work paying off,” DeVoe said. “It may not have felt like it to the team until they finally got to the end, which then they see four medals means we are hitting paydirt.”
While the league championship is great, DeVoe said it is only a stepping stone to what the team really wants.
“The goal has been to win regionals, so this is just an extra carrot for them, but really the goal is still to win regionals,” DeVoe said. “So we get a day of celebration and then it’s just back to it.”
The Cardinals will compete at regionals Monday in Wamego.
Although it ended nicely for the Cardinals, the day did not start the way they wanted.
As soon as the team arrived at Heritage Park Golf Course in Olathe Tuesday, they got word that they would only be playing nine holes instead of the usual 18.
DeVoe said this was because there was an issue with scheduling.
“Somehow, they didn’t know that we would be a shotgun start, so they set us up with tee times,” DeVoe said. “If we waited for everyone to get done with 18 with a tee time at 2:30, we might have been here until midnight.”
Vogt was unhappy with the late change.
“I was very frustrated when they canceled it to only nine holes,” Vogt said. “The back nine is much easier, and I was betting on that for my redemption. So, that was very frustrating.”
Nevertheless, the team made the most of the situation. Grant said DeVoe provided some inspirational words to her before she started play that helped her focus in the face of adversity.
“DeVoe gave me a pep talk before I teed off and she was like, ‘Think how a champion would think,’” Grant said. “So it made me think that I could do good like a champion can.”
To make things even more challenging, the golfers were faced with a windy day as gusts reached speeds well over 20 mph.
DeVoe provided some advice to the team on how to handle the wind.
“I just told them to remember if you just put the ball a little back in your stance and swing, it’ll keep it lower,” DeVoe said. “But essentially, just hit your ball. Hit your shot. Just use the extra club.”
The team was able to warm up on the driving range before the tournament, which helped them adjust to the wind and see what they needed to do.
Even though it was a challenging day, Vogt said she is excited by the league championship win and can’t wait to see what the team does at regionals Monday.
“The teams at regionals are going to be much more competitive, and we’re going to have to fight our best,” Vogt said. “But, I think our team has a good chance of going to state this year.”
Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at [email protected]
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