The golf teams opened their seasons with two meets: girls at Heart of Texas at Pecan Valley in Fort Worth on Sept. 8, the team placed 16th and in individual events junior Stalee Fields placed third, and the boys beginning at the Tiger Classic at Kahn Valley in Fort Worth on Sept 15-16.
“[This season] is going to be interesting in a sense,” head coach Jeff Fields said. “The boys’ first tournament is one of the biggest in the nation, and it’s one of those meets where we are going to know what we need to work on [quickly]. The boys have been qualifying well, and playing well, and if we can tune in that tournament, we’ll be pretty successful. On the girls’ side, [it’s] kind of the same thing. We won a consolation prize last year [at Heart of Texas], and I really think that the girls have grown over the summer.”
The top five, or varsity black team, last year was composed of one senior, three juniors and one sophomore. This year, however, the team was able to keep four of its players from last year, while adding one new member.
“[The start of the season] has been good; it’s been different having a new [person] on the team,” junior Stalee Fields said. “It’s been fun getting to know a new face and [building] new friendships. We did lose a senior, and we’ve kind of been adjusting to her not being here. But it’s good fun. We have twins this year as seniors, so it’s [their] last season and it’s kind of sad, but at the same time we’re regrouping and building everything up.”
Last year, the boys team was able to have a player place high in regionals but fail to get into district, and the team failed to qualify for state. The varsity black boys team last year had three juniors and two sophomores; this year, they maintain the same players.
“A big goal is to make it past districts this year, hopefully place in regionals and make it to the state like I’ve been dreaming since freshman year,” boys captain Hubert Kim said. “If we achieve that, it will serve a really good path along the future, [so] newer guys can hopefully repeat and accomplish that goal again.”
As both teams plan to further their placings at meets from the past years, they have also faced a new obstacle as a significantly higher heat index has hindered their practices.
“[Something different about this season is] dealing with the outside conditions, and it seems like this year has been a lot hotter and we’ve had a lot of restrictions put on us as far as getting out in there for kids safety,” Fields said. “[Though] it’s been hot, this could be a very special year for us. We’ve got a lot of boys back from the district team last year. We’ve got four out of the five [girls] coming back. I am excited about seeing them advance and I expect a lot of good things.”
