By BRAD BAUGHMAN, for The Democrat
With three of their top five golfers returning from last season, and the addition of a promising freshman in the lineup, the Brown County High School girls golf team has enjoyed a strong start to the season.
Seniors Annika Evenson, Ainslie Winton and Abby Padgett, and freshman newcomer Lilly VanNess, have anchored the Eagles’ top four spots and have propelled the team to an early-season 4-1 record.
The solid start does not surprise Coach Ben VanNess, who attributes much of the credit to the work the girls put in over the summer. “The voluntary practices, Mondays and Thursdays, two hours a day, got them in really good form to start the season,” he said. He believes the players might already be in mid-season form.
His assessment is supported by the team scores the Eagles have turned in so far.
Behind Evenson’s career-low nine-hole round of 43, the Eagles opened the season with a home win at Salt Creek Golf Retreat over Indian Creek, 216-232. In a tri-match with Whiteland and Edinburgh at Timbergate Golf Course, the Eagles shaved some more strokes off, and their 212 was good enough to pick up two more wins.
Dropping five more strokes with a 207 earned the team a split in another tri-match, losing to Brownstown, but defeating Edgewood at Cascades Golf Course. According to VanNess, the Eagles were averaging close to 230 per nine-hole round last season at this time.
Right now, the team has no clear cut No. 1 player. Evenson and Winton have taken turns sharing that assignment and both seem comfortable doing so. Padgett has settled into the third spot in the order, while Lilly VanNess has a strong hold on the No. 4 position.
Those four have provided all the scoring so far, and Coach VanNess would dearly like to see a fifth player develop to relieve a little of the scoring pressure. “It is nice to have that person in the fifth spot that you can rely on in case one of your top four does have a bad spell, in case of the shanks or something, and they just don’t have it that day,” he said.
Senior Mattie Satter, junior Hannah deWeerdt, and sophomores Ava Padgett and Savannah Poling are all in the mix for that fifth spot. “I hope they all kind of rise to the challenge,” Coach VanNess said, adding that they have all been improving considerably.
Coach VanNess feels fortunate to have four seniors providing leadership for the team. “They’re all really good role models. They know what to expect from the coaches. They’re just a great group of young ladies and their work ethic is strong,” he said.
The seniors are keenly aware of the leadership expectations that they will have this season and are poised to embrace them. Padgett said that she sees one of her challenges as “trying to maintain the team’s positivity.”
“I think our role as seniors is to just be the best role models for the underclassmen as we can because they are going to be the next ones to lead the team,” Evenson said.
Even if things ever take a turn in the wrong direction on the course, the bond the players have formed should help immensely.
“I know it’s pretty cliche to say that it’s like a family out here, but I feel like it really is,” Winton said.
“We all get along together, out of school, in school. We always try to pick each other up when we are not having a good day,” Satter added.
The remainder of the season will no doubt be filled with good moments and some not-so-good moments, but for right now, the Eagles are enjoying their fast start and looking forward to the future.
Coach VanNess sees the promise, desire and closeness in the group and is excited about the next few weeks.
“Our bad is not bad. I think our good is going to be getting better, a lot more pars and a lot fewer big numbers,” he said.
