At this year’s girls’ golf conference championship, the Cougars followed closely behind the Heritage Huskies and came out with a second place finish overall.

The girls were trailing behind by half a point going into the match, which is an improvement from former seasons. The team scored a 253, trailing Heritage’s 234.

“We had a very successful season compared to previous years of the golf team. We almost finished as conference champions. I was a little upset about that, but overall I thought we did well,” junior M. K. Hederick said.

Hederick, who finished second for the team(81), was one of the four Cougar players to qualify for regionals: sophomore Parker Bowman, senior Morgan McPhatter, and junior Catherine Vivongsy.

Despite the Heritage’s golfers, our girls still took away positive from 2019.

“I feel like I’ve definitely improved, and I think the coaches really helped with that, but also the girls were just so nice and the environment was really good,” senior Erin Burroughs said.

The team worked hard this year to improve individually, but mostly as a team, according to Vivongsy, who led the team with an 80 score in the match.

“Consistency with our scores, with our golf game, but overall our bonding was a lot stronger this year.”

Going into the conference match the girls’ were nervous, but the mood throughout the match helped them to calm down.

“The atmosphere was actually really chill, surprisingly, for the last match. We were just playing to see what would happen. It was out of our control, so we were just gonna wait and see and not put a lot of pressure on it,” Borroughs said.

Although the outcome wasn’t completely what they desired, sophomore Megan Brantly is still pleased with what they all accomplished.

“I am just really proud of the team, and we did such a good job. We worked really hard to get there,” Brantly said.

Between growing as a team and taking second place in the conference, camaraderie was a theme that emerged in many of the interviews.

“Honestly just like the practices because this year we just got to have fun instead of just putting a lot of pressure on each other, and the coaches really let us have a good time,” Borroughs said.

Throughout the season the girls learned alot about what they needed to improve on and what can help their game.

Hederick said, “It taught me that no matter how much sleep I get, I can do my best. I also realized that every stroke does count and matters, so you have to give it your all.”

Check out our picture gallery from the 2019 season here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/AbXBpK97FGKQzrKW7