Rain rain go away.
It’s been a dreary two days in mid-Missouri. At the Twin Hills Country Club in Joplin, Mo. host of the Missouri State High School Activities Association Class Two Girl’s Golf State Championship things were no different.
Due to inclement weather on Monday the tournament had to be shortened to a single day of golf and just one round, instead of the usual two.
“We played as best we could under the conditions we were in,” senior Madison McDonnell said. “The wind was around 20 m.p.h. and there was still a lot of standing water.”
Despite the rough conditions the tournament was completed with the Bruins finishing tied for seventh with Warrensburg High School with a score of 385. Senior Sam Farmer paced the Bruins shooting a 12 over par 84, that was good for an 11th overall finish. Sophomore Julia Bower recorded the second lowest score for the Bruins with a 90, followed by sophomore Haley Diel who carded a score of 100. Junior Layton Euliss and McDonnell rounded out the order for the Bruins with scores of 111 and 125, respectively.
With the 11th overall finish Farmer secured all-state honors.
“She played as she has all season, very consistent,” McDonnell said. “Sam has worked for eight years for that moment and it really is a testament to her diligence as a golfer all of these years.”
Although the Bruins didn’t win state, the state appearance was still something to take pride in. Last year the Bruins failed to make the state tournament after winning it all the year before.
“We all wanted to redeem ourselves from last year and approached every tournament with a different attitude,” Farmer said, “that really helped us in the long run to make it back to state.”
In preparation for the state run the Bruins geared up to compete well not only physically but also mentally.
“We had been working a lot on our mental game,” Farmer said, “and just working on staying relaxed and confident if we had a bad shot or bad hole and not letting that dictate what the rest of our round was going to look like.”
The Bruin golf season is officially over but for Farmer the fall sports season continues as she is also an accomplished cross country runner. Last year at the cross country State Championship Farmer finished 15th overall claiming all-state honors. With golf all-state honors already in the bag Farmer has turned her sights to cross country and potentially doubling up on all-state honors.
“It would be really cool to be able to do that,” Farmer said. “Its just always nice accomplishing a goal like that especially after all the work you put in to sports individually and for your team.”