As they sat down for dinner at Olive Garden Monday night, the girls golf team couldn’t help but nervously check their phones to watch the live standings of the state tournament.  

Only the top six teams move on to round two. When the team finished its round, they were behind Buhler High School by about 15 strokes, but the Crusaders still had all their golfers playing. 

“We were just on the edge of sixth and seventh for a long time,” senior Joellen Vogt said. “We were very nervous. About every two seconds, we were trying to reload our phones.” 

The Cardinals could only watch. Head coach Susan DeVoe told the team to try and focus on dinner, but it didn’t do much good. 

“I asked them to put the phone away because we were at dinner,” DeVoe said. “Then, they saw we were within three and I said, ‘Oh, go ahead.’” 

Finally, when they reloaded the standings and saw they had moved into sixth, the team couldn’t hide their excitement. 

“It was a lot of joy just knowing that our hard work paid off,” senior Olivia Lawhorn said. “As a team, seeing that together was super good.”

Assistant coach Scott Keltner said the celebration was probably one of the biggest he has seen in a restaurant, but doesn’t have any regrets about making a scene with the team. 

“Usually at Olive Garden, you hear some hooting and hollering in one corner of the restaurant because somebody’s got a birthday. But we were celebrating a little bit louder than most people in the restaurant would expect,” Keltner said. “Just to let loose for a little while amongst each other, that was a fun moment to be a part of.” 

The Cardinals shot a 368 (+88) during round one of the state tournament to advance to round two by just four strokes. 

Topeka Hayden sits in first place after shooting a 335 (+55).

Here are the Cardinals’ individual scores and where they placed after round one: 

• Vogt: 82 (+12), 12th

• Sophomore Marleigh Grant: 91 (+21), T-28th

• Freshman Brooklynn Akers: 97 (+27), T-41st

• Lawhorn: 98 (+28), T-45th

• Junior Brette Hayden: 124 (+54), 87th

• Senior Abigail Kennedy: 133 (+63), 90th

Wamego’s Addison Douglass is in first place individually with a 73 (+3). 

Several of the Cardinals were pleased with how they played Monday. Grant said she set her personal best.  

“I was really happy to see that at state, and that I can provide a good score for our team,” Grant said. “I’m just really happy with how I played.”  

Akers said she didn’t start very well, but kept her head up to finish strong to turn in a good score.  

“The first nine holes were very rough for me, but I stuck it out to the end and the last nine holes were the best holes,” Akers said. “My score really helped the team, and I’m proud of myself and my teammates.”  

Hayden said seeing the course Sunday helped her play well during round one, especially after playing at a tough course for regionals.  

“It was kind of a breath of fresh air because it’s pretty flat, and not a lot of trees. So that was really helpful,” Hayden said.  

Now that they are moving on to round two, the Cardinals said they feel more relaxed because they surpassed the goal.  

“This is farther than we thought we were going to make it. Our goal this year was to just make it to state, and now we’ve made it to the second day,” Vogt said. “I think we should just be happy that we made it this far, and we are going to do better than we did today. We are going to feel good about ourselves.”  

While they have some work to do to reach the state championship, Kennedy said the team just has to maintain a championship mentality.  

“DeVoe is always talking about something called, ‘Think like a champion,’” Kennedy said. “That’s all she tells us all the time is to think like a champion, and golf really is mental 90% of the time. I’m going to focus on staying positive and think like a champion.”  

Kennedy will tee things off for the Cardinals at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday from Salina Municipal Golf Course.  

Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at [email protected]

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