All the key players are back for the Emporia High girls golf team, and coach Rick Eckert knows who his top three golfers will be.
From here, it’s mostly just a matter of translating the improvement Eckert already sees to tournament play. With the chance to host the Regional championships this year, the coach likes how things are shaping up.
The Spartans finished fourth out of seven teams in the Centennial League championships last year and sixth out of eight at Regionals. This year, Eckert’s goal is for EHS to finish in the top five at every tournament.
“I mean, we’ve got that much experience coming back,” he said. “And I think that it’s one of those things where they understand that, and they’re starting to finally see that, ‘Hey, you know what? We can play with some of these other schools.’
“Washburn (Rural) and Manhattan are ahead above us, but everybody else, we can compete and we should be able to beat. It’s gonna be a matter of getting four good scores together.”
Senior Maryann Bennett will be the No. 1 golfer following two years of just missing qualifying as an individual for the State tournament. Last year, Bennett tied for 15th by shooting a 97 at Regional play in Wichita, just two strokes back of a potential qualifying score.
“So she has been right on the edge and just been getting bumped out,” Eckert said. “So hopefully the senior year, she gets over the hump and gets into the tournament.”
Hannah Watkins will likely be the Spartans’ second-best golfer and will be followed by fellow junior Rachel Clopton. Two other juniors, Melissa Heinitz and Makenzie Harder, are competing for the fourth spot. Watkins shot a 104 to come in at 22nd place at Regionals last year.
Rounding out the team will be junior Kelsey Burenheide and seniors Seung-Yun Shin and Candice Price.
Eckert feels good about hosting Regionals this year on Oct. 13 at Emporia Municipal Golf Course. Washburn Rural and Manhattan are almost never placed in the same regional.
“So that means that ... team-wise, for the first time since I’ve been here, we actually will have a legitimate chance to go to state as a team,” he said. “If we play as well as we’re capable and we do it on our home course, this is the best chance that we’re probably gonna have.”
A successful season, he said, will come down to the same thing it always comes down to in golf: the short game.
“And that’s what we have been spending the majority of our time on so far, is just getting the fundamentals down with chipping and putting. Because we know that if we’re gonna make serious improvement in our scores, that’s where it’s gonna be.”