The Barton Community College women’s golf team will welcome seven new recruits to the Lady Cougars next season, including a pair of local girls.
Great Bend’s Tanisha Unruh and Hoisington’s Britany Axman will be part of the BCC team that won the National Junior College Athletic Association Region VI tournament this year.
“Tanisha wanted to go somewhere close,” BCC head coach Doug Kaiser said. “I think there were only two seniors on the Great Bend (High School) team so she wanted to stay close.”
Unruh, who averaged 101 in high school, finished with a score of 110 at the Class 5A state tournament last year at Willowbend Country Club in Wichita.
“(Unruh) and Britany are already practicing together out at StoneRidge (in Great Bend),” Kaiser said. “They connected somehow, and they are already playing together.”
Axman is coming from a Hoisington High School girls’ golf team that took third place at the Class 3-1A state tournament at StoneRidge last year.
Axman averaged 94 for the Lady Cardinals. She finished with a score of 108 at state last year, but she hit an 89 at state two years ago.
“Coach (Bruce) Cooper at Hoisington, when I approached him and asked what Britany’s plan for college was, he told me that if I talked with her she would be excited to play for Barton.
“So I approached her and told her that I would be excited to have her playing for Barton. After that, her coach called me and said ‘I don’t know what you said to her, but she is practicing more than before.’”
Kaiser said that he was happy with Axman’s work ethic.
“Instead of hitting nine holes, she started hitting 18 after I talked with her,” Kaiser said. “She emails me at least once a week to tell me she’s practicing.
“It is great to see a kid excited to practice. You know, the other kids see that and hopefully it pushes them to practice more, too.”
Sara Haywood will be coming to the Lady Cougars from Goddard. She averaged 93 last year.
Kaylee Rudolph, a Topeka West product, will be bringing an 83 average to BCC next season.
“Kaylee Rudolph has played a dozen games since school got out,” Kaiser said. “She is a good golfer, and she can hit the ball a mile.”
Kalee Logan, who is from Lyons, will be coming from Fort Hays State University to play for Barton. Logan, went to FHSU to play golf but was redshirted as a freshman.
She averages 81 and will be coming to BCC as a sophomore.
Barton also recruited a golfer from Pasadena, Texas in Jessica Hartenstein. She averages a score of 92.
Alyssa Dickman, who averaged 98 for Wichita Heights last year, rounds out this year’s recruiting class.
Those seven will join three returning players, including NJCAA national tournament competitors Lindsey Wait and Chelsea Dietz.
Kaiser said that he expects his team to be better than it was last season, which included six first-place finishes, a Region VI crown and a trip for four to the NJCAA national tournament.
“We are going to have a salty team next season,” Kaiser said. “I think we are going to be even stronger than we were this year. The whole team of girls will likely be in the 90s.”