By Joey Villarreal.
As the golf season comes to a close, the players look back on their achievements and begin to prepare for their offseason.
“What we do before tournaments is called qualifying,” senior Miles Etter said. “It’s where we each play four rounds or nine holes and whoever has the best scores gets to go to the tournament.”
Both teams improved throughout the season and many players have had impressive achievements.
“My favorite memory of the season was when one of my best friends broke 90 and shot her personal best, ” junior Aracely De La Paz said. “I improved my driving distance a lot by practicing and hitting at the range every day.”
On Sept. 16, the boys’ varsity golf team shot the lowest score of the season with a personal best of 309 at the Lubbock ISD Varsity Invitational.
“One of the things we did was that we shot our lowest team score that I had been able to be a part of since I’ve been at Abilene High, so that was a big deal,” Coach Scott Findley said. “Another thing they achieved this year is just learning how to compete against really tough teams.”
Not only did boys improve but the girls did as well. The girls placed second in both the Benbrook Invitational and Sweetwater Carola Martin Memorial.
“Our scores have improved solidly from last year,” Coach Wayne Williams said. “We were very young last year, with no juniors or seniors. This group has more varsity tournament experience now, and it is showing in our team and individual scores.”
Individual players also beat personal records and are working towards new goals for the upcoming season.
“My biggest achievement was shooting a 67 during our first tournament,” senior Aaron Anglin said. “Our first tournament was definitely the most impressive, again just because of how our team performed the second day.”
The players improved greatly and look forward to their upcoming spring season.
“All of us pretty much beat our personal scores,” junior Grace Kasberg said. “I broke 90 for the first time which was really exciting. And I played my personal best at one of the hardest courses we played at.”
The teams are beginning their offseason and will continue to improve.
“The other thing we’re working on bigtime on is short game, chipping and putting,” Finley said. “Of course, we’re going to have some fun in the offseason, so right now we are having our Eagle Cup. It’s fun for them and it builds team camaraderie, working together and so forth.”
