It was not the 2A State tournament that the White Pine High School girls golf team had hoped for last week to end the season.
This came even after the success they had at the 2A East regionals that White Pine won for the second straight year when they defeated Wells by 16 strokes and Kylee Knudsen won the individual title by one stroke.
White Pine Ladycat Golf team places fourth at State, struggles with terrible weather.
Taking on a familiar course at Elko, White Pine had the opportunity to seize the moment, especially with the familiarity of playing the course, including some who played there last month.
However, with the weather conditions, along with some pressure, White Pine was unable to match last year’s state runner-up performance by falling to fourth.
Leading the way for the Ladycats was senior Kylee Knudsen, who shot a 210 across the two rounds for the 11th best score of the tournament and the best score of the 2A East teams.
“That’s huge, because the weather was terrible, absolutely terrible,” head coach Tami Church said. “So yeah, just that she reduced her score was amazing.”
In addition to Knudsen having a successful state tournament, so did Payton Walker.
After being in 24th place after the first round with a 133, Walker was able to have the best improvement from round one to round two in the field.
Walker’s 18-stroke improvement in the 37-player field helped her move up five spots on the leaderboard to finish tied for 19th at 248 strokes with Sierra Lutheran’s Dakota Reed and Virginia City’s Kasia Hofheins.
Church said Walker solely focused on the task at hand, even despite the field enduring a lightning delay.
“I think she was more relaxed, like we said, ‘There’s no pressure. Just go out and shoot what you can, try your best.’ That’s all I ask,” Church said. “She went out, and she was so much more relaxed and didn’t worry about things. Before the weather struck, we had to get off the course because we had a rain delay, she was rocking it then, and she went out and just finished. It was really great to see.”
McKenna Barney was second on the team after 18 holes with 132 strokes and one shot ahead of Walker.
However, as Walker cut strokes down, Barney struggled against the weather on the second day with a 156. Barney still finished third on the team in 28th place.
Church said Barney’s impact, especially on the first day, was right in line with her past appearances in the state tournament.
“I look for McKenna to shoot within those 10 strokes that she’s capable of. I don’t look for any more, any less, and she always never disappoints me,” Church said. “Always consistent. McKenna has finished first or second on our team and state for the last four years. I mean, that’s McKenna.
“She’s always second on all my teams, and I can always count on her. I mean, she saved her bacon last year. She was Steady Freddy this year. I mean, she’s just always right in there.”
This comes 12 months after Barney had a 10-stroke improvement in last year’s state tournament to help White Pine finish as the 2A State runner-up.
Also having a positive performance in the state tournament was Isabell Callendar, who went 171-163 in her first state championship appearance.
That eight-stroke improvement goes a long way, especially in building the foundation and the depth of this roster for years to come.
“Isabell could shoot in the 120’s easily, but it just gets in her head,” Church said. “She tries to hurry, tries to make up time. She’s just young. It’ll come,” Church said. “I look for big things for her and her sister, who was our alternate this year and had a broken arm. Isabelle and her sister are going to be really nice to have next year. I look for big things for both of them, Gwen and Isabell.”
As Church looks ahead to the offseason, she says goodbye to five seniors, Kylee Knudsen, McKenna Barney, Autumn Taylor, Brynn Gardner, and Ally Bradley, all of whom have played an integral part to this roster and this program.
“Definitely the seniors I’m losing I’ve had for four years, so it’s emotional,” Church said. We’re going to have senior night in two weeks, and it’ll be probably as hard on me as it is on the girls.”
Heading into this offseason for the returners, the key thing for the returning will be lowering scores around the green.
“It’s all about the putting green, and the kids know it now. I mean, I tell them all the time,” Church said. “I really think they’re getting the idea that the short game is so much more important (than driving). You can make up so many strokes if you can putt and just leave it close.”
I’ve got a lot of young girls that are very motivated coming up. So looking, looking forward to next year and sorry though that I’m going to miss the seniors that I’m losing.
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