Senior Joellen Vogt has closed out her high school golf career the same way she started it: by making history.
Vogt became the first girls golfer in team history to commit to play in college as she signed her letter of intent to Barton Community College Tuesday.
Vogt said it is a surreal feeling to be the first girls golfer to continue her golf career at the next level.
“It’s amazing. I was on the first golf team here at Eudora. I was the first girl ever to go to state and medal at state, and then take a team to state. Now this is just part of the story,” Vogt said. “It’s something I’ve worked for, and I’ve always worked for. So, it’s fulfilling to know that I’m doing my dream.”
In her time with the Cardinals, Vogt medaled at state all four years by placing 18th her freshman year, sixth her sophomore year, eighth her junior year and fourth this past season with her two-day score of 157 (+17).
Vogt led the Cardinals to a sixth-place finish at their first-ever state tournament this past season as well.
Vogt said she was up in the air with her choices of going to college, but Barton Community College, in Great Bend, offered her a full-ride scholarship that she couldn’t refuse.
Vogt said visiting the campus and meeting Cougars head golf coach Doug Kaiser also helped in her decision-making process.
“He was really nice. They have a really good team and next year we’ll have a really good chance of winning nationals,” Vogt said.
The Cougars won four out of five tournaments in the fall and placed sixth at nationals last spring.
Kaiser said in the 14 years he has been coaching the women’s team, the Cougars have made it to nationals 13 years.
The Cougars are led by Butpapaporn Sukterm, an international player from Thailand, who has shot under par in every tournament she has played, Kaiser said.
Kaiser said Vogt has a good chance at being one of the top five golfers on the team and should start playing right away in the fall.
“I’m looking forward to having her on our team. She seems like a really, really great individual. She’s got some good parents, and I’m really excited about her being on the Barton team next year,” Kaiser said.
Cardinals head golf coach Susan DeVoe said the main challenge for Vogt at the college level will be the increased amount of training, but she has no doubt Vogt will handle it with grace.
“They’re very regimented because they are paying you to come, so they are not going to let that go to waste,” DeVoe said. “So, you have weightlifting, you have team meals, you have study time. I think with all freshmen it will be a transition, but I think she will get used to it because she does like golf.”
DeVoe said she is thrilled for Vogt, especially after Vogt kept the team in the dark about where she was going to college.
“She kept people on pins and needles by not disclosing where she was going, so it’s good for her to finally be able to say and not have to keep saying, ‘I’m not saying yet,’” DeVoe said. “I think it’s great. This is the first somebody’s gone all the way through from beginning to end who was in the first girls golf program, and to be able to get a scholarship out of it is awesome.”
Vogt plans to study veterinary medicine with the goal of one day becoming a zoo veterinarian. She will begin taking online classes at Barton Community College in the spring and aims to later transfer to a four-year university.
Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at [email protected].
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