The Great Bend High School girls’ golf team finds itself in an unusual position this season.
Of the six starting golfers, five will likely be seniors.
“We actually have five seniors this year, and all five played in the state tournament last year,” GBHS head coach Troy Stein said. “Our senior leadership ought to be pretty good. I expect all of those girls to play varsity.
“We’re just looking for one more to step up and help us out.”
That’s three more than last year.
“We had two seniors last year,” Stein said. “McKenna Mauler was a big loss. She was a state qualifier.”
Stein said that the five senior each have varsity experience, which will prove useful this year. Hannah Mauler, Michaela Cape, Taylor Mohr, Maddie Vesta and Kacee Kasselman will make up the majority of the team.
While there are a number of seniors, they all share the burden of leadership
“There really isn’t one that sticks out,” Stein said. “I think they’re a pretty tight-knit group. Hannah and Michaela kind of take the lead on stuff, but they don’t put the one over the other.
“They make decisions together. They all kind of hang out together.”
These five know what to expect from the season.
“They’ve been to all the courses where we’re going to play,” Stein said. “They have a pretty good idea of what to expect and what’s going to happen.”
Still, Stein said there is always unknowns in golf.
“Golf is still a game of ups and downs,” Stein said. “I don’t expect us to go out and set the world on fire, but hopefully we continue to get better throughout the year and make another run at the state tournament.”
There are five experienced golfers, but six varsity spots. Stein said that one of the younger golfers out this season will need to step up.
“To start out the season, it’s going to be Allison Neeland,” Stein said. “She’s a sophomore and got some experience last year. The other two girls are freshmen and they haven’t played a lot of golf yet.
“We’re going to try to bring them along slow and see what happens toward the end of the year.”
Things can change throughout a season, and each golfer needs to work on improving.
“We’ve had a couple good weeks of practice,” Stein said. “We’re kind of shaking off the rust, working on our short game. We kind of always emphasize that.
“We’re just trying to get better.”
Great Bend’s first test of the season is Hays.
“Our first tournament is Hays,” Stein said. “That’s one of the toughest courses we’ll see all year. For the girls, that’s probably the toughest course we’ll play.
“Dodge City because of the elevation changes. Garden City’s tough. It’s the league courses. Hays and Garden City are the two toughest courses we’ll see.”
The freshmen won’t be competing in the first meet of the season, but Stein said that the second meet, scheduled at Salina, will be perfect to get the newcomers some action.
“They’ll have a JV tournament on a par 3 course,” Stein said. “It’ll be great for them because it’ll give them the taste of a big tournament on a good course with only six holes. It’ll be a nice way to break them in.”