Tuesday, October 30, 2018

2018 Golf Banquet


Sunday night the girls had their Golf Banquet celebrating their accomplishments this past season.  It was a lot of fun.  The coaches spoke about each girl and the seniors also got to speak.  Below you will be able to read about what the coaches had to say about each girl and see a few other pictures from the event.  Our seniors will definitely be missed but we wish them the best of luck with their future!

Our JV team and what Coach Kim Cruisinberry had to say about each girl...


Grace Hutchinson
  Grace participated in 4 events this year and had her best finish at the Manhattan Invitational where she improved by 13 strokes from her first event.  Grace is very new to the game and has worked hard to improve. She is very well liked by her team and myself and has been a pleasure to coach.  Grace has a love/hate relationship with her putter.  I remember one time after a dual she told me  “Coach you are going to be mad at me, I 6 putted.” She was right - I was mad and shocked - but we both got over it!


Julianna Poe 
Another first timer and the most petite golfer we had.  First time she showed up this summer she had these really long clubs.  Julianna are those your clubs?  I think she told me they were her Dad’s.  First Lesson:  let’s get clubs that fit. - that was a huge game changer!  Julianna played in 6 events.  Her best round was a 60 at our Dual against Salina Central. This was a 19 stroke improvement from our first dual.   I even got to witness her first legitimate par!  The smile on her face was priceless.  I promoted Julianna to assistant JV Coach.  The girl remembers everything, where is our next practice, what time do we leave for our tournament, she also remembers all her opponents scores when playing, which is pretty remarkable because many JV players have trouble remembering their own score let alone other player’s scores. 


Kealy Lhuillier
I’ve had the pleasure of coaching Kealy before - she played volleyball for me in 7th grade. Kealy is very coachable, very positive and encouraging and is always asking questions. In fact, when she first showed up we were asking the girls to mark on their scorecard if they hit the fairway or not.  Kealy raised her hand and asked me “What is a fairway?”  Remember,  I told you a lot of girls are new to the game.  Kealy I hope you know what the fairway is now!!.  Kealy played in all the events except one.  She had her best round at Stagg Hill where she shot a 55, she was even honest enough to give me back her medal because I incorrectly added her score as a 54.  That shows you what kind of person she is!


Lizzy Tauschek
Our last Freshman. I was so excited when she told me at Eisenhower that she would be playing.  I have coached Lizzy in the past as well.  Both in Volleyball and Basketball.  Lizzy is talented in multiple sports, but Lizzy I think GOLF could be your game.  Lizzy improved immensely from the beginning of the season to the end.  In fact, she was the only JV girl who played in our Varsity Invitational and finished in the middle of the pack among all the varsity participants.  When asked if she wanted to compete that day, she did not shy away from the challenge.  She also worked hard in the off season - taking lessons, going to camps and playing in some local tournaments.  I hope she continues that work ethic in the off season.  She had 2 top 10 finishes in our invitationals; 7th at Council Grove (51) and 2nd (50) at the Manhattan Invite.


Andi Tanner
Our lone sophomore this season! Andi, I’m sorry that you hurt your foot!  But as the saying goes when one door closes another opens ... your injury gave you the push towards golf and for that I’m thankful!  Andi has a natural swing -  a comment made by several coaches not just myself. Even the cute one from Centre High School. ;)  I would say Andi’s season was a roller coaster ride and I’m sure she would agree.  We started with a bang winning our first dual and then we had some bumps in between.  I think her biggest lesson was perseverance which can be a difficult lesson to learn in golf.  When the shots aren’t going where we want them to and our putts aren’t falling, how do we keep positive and stay focused. Coach and I always emphasized take each round shot by shot!   I think Andi learned how to better manage this at the end - and will continue to improve with more experience.  Her best round this year was a 53 at Stagg Hill!  Can’t wait to see what she brings to the team next year!


Finally, our juniors!

Lauren Erickson (sadly Lauren was sick and missed the banquet)

Can’t say enough good things about Lauren.  She is awesome!  Great teammate and a great person!  The first time I saw her hit a ball was this summer - and I said with some work she could be pretty good.  She is tall and athletic and very coachable.  I can see that she wants to improve - she is competitive.  Boy did she improve - especially her short game!  I know the girls are probably tired of putting drill because that is where 50%  of our practices were geared to but putting wins matches.  Our goal was no 3 putts and only 1 chip.  Lauren dropped 19 strokes off her first score to a 59 and I know it was because of her improvement on her short game. 
  
*HINT HINT Girls - practice your short game if you want to drop strokes!


Hannah Higgins
Lastly is our veteran, our leader, our van psychologist and our DJ - Hannah Higgins!  
Hannah brought so much goodness to the team - she always seemed to know how to put everything: school, boys and golf in the correct perspective.  She also has excellent taste in music - this coming from an oldie like myself.  This girl can crush the ball -  sometimes not always straight - but long!  She is very powerful!  Hannah, also put a lot of work into her short game - and her average improved by 16 strokes from last season.  She played in our first spot for all but one of our events and earned the spot by having the lowest 9 hole average for our JV team. She finished 13th at Council Grove (55)  and 9th at Concordia (108).  

On to Varsity and what Coach Paige McCarthy had to say...


Rhys Phipps
Her average improved about 9 strokes from last year. This was her first year to play varsity golf. She contributed to the team score a few times by breaking 100 three times. We know she’s got talent, but, unfortunately, when I would see her at a tournament, she would say, “I’m struggling.” Rhys, I know you will work hard this summer and be more of a factor in our team scoring next year. Believe good things will happen. Some highlights for me centered around Rhys’ honesty and integrity. In the Salina South invitational, one of Rhys’ opponents took a questionable drop from a wood chip area. When the girls were back in the clubhouse and discussing the incident, the other player was, shall we say, less than cordial. Rhys, on the other hand, handled the situation with maturity, kept her cool, explained her reasoning, then boldly extended her hand first, shook the girl’s hand, and let by gones be by gones. I couldn’t have been more proud of her. Except at state, I was watching Rhys hit toward the green, and I swore she swung at the ball, missed, then hit the ball on the next swing. After the hole, she gave her score to the marker, and he argued that she had one less stroke than what she was claiming. She insisted that she had the higher score because of her whiff. As I was telling Rhys how proud I was of her for her honesty, a Dodge City parent in the group commended her actions to me, as did the marker. She simply said, “Coach, that’s the rule.” Rhys, I don’t care how your golf career plays out, but I know that I can always trust you to be truthful and not cut corners—that will get you far in life.


AJ Ryan
Her score average improved 12 strokes from last year. Her low round was 93. AJ’s score counted several times in our team total. I will forever remember her for her FAST swing. I can’t even get half a backswing before AJ is finished with her swing. Hopefully I have you convinced that a pre-shot routine is very important and will help relieve some of the pressure in high-stress situations. That routine calms your stress levels. I think she said “thank you” to me more times than the rest of the team put together. Even if I coached her into a bad shot, she would take the responsibility. I have no doubt that she will work on her putting technique and confidence before next season. I think you will play a huge part in the program’s continued climb back to the top.


Andi Siebert
Her score average improved 12 strokes from last year. As you may know, her low round one week was 88, making her goal of breaking 90. Then the very next week she shot another career low and broke what was it? Oh yeah, 80, by shooting 79!!! She could have competed with anyone that day. I know her mid 80’s rounds after that and a 90 or two were disappointing, but, Andi, look at your success through the season. We couldn’t have had near as much without your scores. I know that you will continue to work on your consistency and short game and believing that you are a good golfer and will compete with the best in the state.  Now that we know what your voice sounds like, we need you to truly find your voice and be one of our strong leaders the next few years.


Kami Bussmann
Her score average improved couple of strokes from last year, but 27 strokes since her freshman year. I think she wanted it to improve more, but there were a few slice and grip issues. Kami is one that has a good basic swing, but just little things happened throughout most of her rounds that kept her from having that one low score. But in state she came through in a big way and broke 100 (her season goal) by giving us a 94 that we could count. And she could still count a few holes where she could have saved even more strokes. Kami’s future is very bright if we can get her to manage a little more time for golf in the summer. She is very busy with summer camps and soccer. We will count on your senior experience and leadership next year.


Camy McAtee
I called her my peacemaker or diplomat. She is amazing at seeing issues from both sides and approaching both parties tactfully. Camy was on varsity all 4 years. She improved her stroke average this season more than her other seasons put together, lowering it by about 8 strokes from last year. Camy was super at cheerleading for the other girls on the team—I am not so sure she always had that same confidence in herself though. Parents, if you are golfers and know your child’s swing well, it can be invaluable to us as coaches. When Camy was struggling with her game, Dr. Jamie would come to the rescue. Camy would ask me what message he had for her, I would go talk with him, then repeat his swing adjustments to her. I think he could have told her to stand on her head and swing with her toes and Camy would have done it, and it would have worked. She had that much faith in his words. The whole team was ecstatic when Camy had her career best 82 at state, tying for 10th place. I am so glad your hard work was rewarded. Her short game was amazing.


Elise Jackson
Improved her scoring average by 5-7 strokes each season, from 102 to 97 to 90 to this year’s 85. She willingly earned and accepted the #1 position. I love the enthusiasm she shows while she plays—yelling at herself, slapping her leg, or reassuring her opponent that, “You’re good, you’re good.” One of her individual goals was to break 80. She was close last season and earlier this season, but we were so happy when she shot 77 at Hutch. She also won the regional in tough weather. At state she wanted to go out with a very low score, but that didn’t happen, but she finished with a good strong 86. Don’t let that take away from your value to the team all season. Elise is a very hard worker and strong leader and competitor and I will miss you.


Susan Lowman of the First Tee of Manhattan came and spoke about her relationship with Camy and Elise and how much impact they have had throughout the years with the First Tee program!

Coach with the two Seniors

Elise Jackson and parents Michella and Derek

Camy McAtee with parents Jamie and Kim

Next Year's Captains: Kami Bussmann and Andi Siebert











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