After the first day of the two-day state championship tournament held at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, the RBHS girls golf team was behind the leading team by ten strokes. Returning from their first state championship in state history and defending their title as an unbeaten team in Missouri, the Bruins were predicted to win the championship from the beginning. Yet, sitting in a disappointing third place after day one, the golfers were a little shaken in their confidence after shooting their worst team score of the season, a 368.
However, the second day of the championships proved to be unforgettable, as a confident and determined RBHS golf team rebounded from their slump and shot a team score 344, walloping their former competition, Lafayette (Wildwood), by a whopping 20 strokes after Tuesday, Oct. 16, securing the win for the Bruins.
The second day of the tournament, “I felt like we just were all around more relaxed,” coach Melissa Coil said. “We knew what we had to achieve and when we played the first day you just didn’t know what people would shoot. All around we were focused on the end goal and knew each shot was important to getting us there.”
The difference in RBHS and the other teams competing for the state title was very clear, Coil said. While most teams have two or three scores at 90 or below, the Bruins had their top four scores under 90 or below. For a golf team, this depth was a great advantage to the players.
“We proved time and time over that we were the only team in the state that could truly depend on any player on our squad,” Coil said. “Three different [RBHS varsity] girls were medalists at different tournaments throughout the year. No one else had the depth of skill that we did.”
As for individual accomplishments, seniors Makayla Baker and Kaitlyn Marsh tied for 11^th overall to secure all-state honors and junior Amanda Baker narrowly missed the 15-player all state list by one stroke. And as well as hanging another banner in the gym, this will also be a moment this team will remember for a while, Coil said.
“I kept adding up our two day total and then what their number one would have to shoot and was like ‘she’s gotta shoot a 50 something’ and then it clicked. There was no way to do that because we’d come back so big,” Coil said. “And we won. Overall I was just thrilled that the team was able to achieve what I’d seen as a possibility from the beginning.”
By Kaitlyn Marsh