Tyler Morren
Sugar Beet staff reporter
Garden City girls’ golf get the win at home. On Monday, Sept. 10, Buffalo Dunes hosted the Garden City Invite. The Buffs finished first as a team with three golfers placing in the top 10. Junior Alyssa McMillen had the low round for the Buffaloes posting an 84. Elena Lemke, senior, fired a 100 placing sixth, and senior, Ashtyn Turrentine, posted a 105 placing tenth for the tournament.
“We can all improve over the remainder of the season to break 100 with some practice and time spent out at the course,” said Grace Yi.
The team then traveled to Willow Tree Golf Course in Liberal on Sept. 20 to square off in the fourth Western Athletic Conference tournament of the year. The girls shot a 201 as a team in a 9 hole format to take second place behind the Hays Indians. Garden City edged off Dodge City by one stroke in Liberal and remain the leader with the most conference points ahead of Hays. McMillen carded a 42, Turrentine a 52, Yi a 53 and Lemke a 54. The buffs hope to improve and critique the small aspects of the game.
“We’ve been working on our short game and mentality which is really going to help us in our future tournaments. I think the team is improving overall and I expect the teams’ scores to drop and individually play our best,” said Alyssa McMillen.
Garden City High School girls golf team continues to be the top dog in the WAC. The girls sit at the top of the leaderboard, overall for the season, placing golfers high enough in scoring ranks at each tournament to be first in the conference. Garden City has accumulated 19 conference points while Hays lingers with 17 on the year so far. There are three tournaments, all 18 hole format, remaining for the girls’ season before the Regional and State tournament. One key tournament being the final WAC tournament of the year takes place in Great Bend. The Buffs are on the verge of becoming back to back WAC champions. Some pressure is put on the team to perform well in upcoming tournaments to win the conference. Winning the conference requires the Buffaloes to finish second place or better to win outright in Great Bend.
Head coach, Trent Specht, said, “We’re doing well. We did hit a little bit of a rough patch in Liberal, but we are improving and that is what matters most.” The end of the season is approaching and the girls have sights set on ending the year on a high note. Upcoming tournaments for the Lady Buffs include the Wichita Northwest Invitational on Sept. 26 and the Hutchinson Invitational on Sept. 27.
Tyler Morren is a public service senior. Contact him at morrent@student.gckschools.com.
Garden City High School 