BUDA — During a tournament March 7-8 in Victoria, the Hays High School (HHS) varsity girls golf team achieved second place overall with a score of 328, breaking the all time HHS girls golf team record of 333.
“It means a lot to us [to have done well] because I would say something that happened last year was this specific team that played in this most recent tournament, they advanced to regionals for the first time in our [HHS] history in the past 40 years,” said head golf coach Alicia Ramon. “It’s awesome to see this group of girls go so far, especially since our team or our girls team has not been able to perform at this high of a level in many years. So, myself and my assistant coach, coach Danny Preuss, are extremely proud of them and we’re excited to see what they could potentially do for the rest of this year.”
“Last year, we placed fifth, so our goal was third or better and we did that,” said high school senior and co-captain Cierra Bigelow. “We put up our best game that we could [at the tournament] and we just had fun and played to the best of our abilities.”
According to Ramon, the girls team has worked very hard on their skills and have truly refined them.
“The girls play twice a week, every week out at our home golf course and they really focus the week before on [their] short game. So, I felt like they were really dialed in on their short game and their putting,” said Ramon.
According to one of the two high school seniors and co-captains on the team, Chelsey Moore, the first day of the Victoria tournament was a little rough, but the team made it through and ultimately reached its goal. Sophomore Delaney McGurren and Moore placed third and fourth, respectively, individually.
The next step for the team is the district competition, where they will face off against other teams from all over the area.
“So, looking at district, we’re definitely riding on some great momentum from this [last] tournament,” said Ramon. “Like I said, last year, we made it to regionals for the first time in 40 years. We got second place at district last year and Delaney McGurren, our sophomore, she is the defending district champ. She won district as a freshman and so, she’s leading the charge and we’re just really hoping for another exciting season for these girls and hopefully advancing to regionals as a team again.”
“Our goal is to put up the lowest possible score that we can and keep a good mental game and try to be competing with them to where, when we go into the second day, we have a potential chance to get first place or at least take home second place and make it close,” said Ramon.
“I’m really proud of the level of dedication our current seniors have put in over the past few years. I think that’s helped draw more girls to our program,” said Ramon. “I'm really proud of how these girls have developed and how they've improved over the years, especially [our] seniors. They went from shooting in the 120s their freshman year to now averaging the 70s and the 80s. It's a difficult thing to do, golf is a hard sport, so I'm really proud of their dedication and hard work for them to get to this point. I'm excited to see what those girls, those seniors, do with their futures, as well, [and] I'm excited to see how they can move that dedication to their future career paths and playing golf in college and so on.”
The varsity girls golf district tournament is April 2-3.
To follow the HHS varsity girls golf team, as well as the boys team, visit www.facebook.com/haysgolf.
