The Great Bend High School girls’ golf team hit their peak at the right time.
According to Lady Panthers head coach Troy Stein, the girls were playing their best golf of the season heading into their Class 5A regional tournament at Hays.
That got them a third-place finish at the regional and a berth in the 5A state tournament, which tees off on Monday at 8:30 a.m. at Tex Consolver Golf Course in Wichita.
“That’s the goal, to get better as you go through the season,” Stein said. “Hopefully you play better at the end of the year than you do at the beginning of the year.”
It is the first time since 1983 that a girls’ golf team from Great Bend qualified as a team.
“They’re excited,” Stein said. “It’s been awhile since a girls’ team has qualified. They were talking at the high school like it was 1983, so this is something to be proud of.”
Stein said the important thing for his team is to not get down after a bad shot.
“We talk about our expectations,” Stein said. “I hate to say this, but we’re not likely to shoot par. We’ve got to understand that and not get down if we have a bad hole.
“We have to understand that in high school girls’ golf, if you can play bogey golf, double-bogey golf, you’re playing pretty well.”
Michaela Cape gets Great Bend’s first tee time, starting at 8:50 on the first tee. McKenna Mauler tees off at 9:40 on the front 9.
“We’re excited the whole team made it,” Cape said. “That was our goal, so now we’re just going to enjoy it. It doesn’t really matter how it turns out.”
Taylor Mohr starts on the back 9, teeing off at 8:50. Hannah Mauler tees off at 9:10, Maddie Vesta starts at 9:20 and Kacee Kasselman is teeing off at 10 on the back 9.
“It’s pretty awesome,” McKenna Mauler said. “We’re just going to try to do the best that we can, try to play the best that we can and whatever happens, happens.”