Alex Field

LINDSAY RICE – Hoof Prints Staff

This golf season has been one of the more challenging seasons the school has seen in a while. Coach Hurst said, “Overall, I would say that this year has been good.” He also said “We’ve won several matches and have shown consistent improvement throughout the year. Everyone worked hard and it has paid off. If we can continue our solid play into the regional tournament we should be in good shape.” The team has been very energetic about this season. Forest Robertson said, “When I play golf I feel like Tiger Woods, but I’m not as good as him – yet.”

The team had eight matches this year at many different courses across the area such as Marked Tree, Paragould, Walnut Ridge and Manila. On Sept. 8 and 9, members of both teams competed in the district tournament at the Sage Meadows golf course in Jonesboro. Both teams did very well in the tournament. The boys ‘team placed fifth, while the girls’ team placed first.

The medalist of the tournament was Sarah Roddy. “I was excited about being named the medalist because I beat my sister, Lauren. She won last year,” Roddy said. The match was a nail-biter for these twins because they tied and had to compete in a sudden death match to determine the medalist.

Of the boys’ team, Alex Field and Nathan Whitlow continued on to the regional tournament, which was held at Horseshoe Bend Sept. 23 with a practice round the previous day. To qualify for regionals, the boys had to have one of the six lowest scores at the district tournament. Thanks to their performance in the district tournament, the whole girls’ team went to regionals. Girls’ regionals was Thursday, Sept. 17 at Cooper’s Hawk in Melbourne. Both teams did very well in Regionals.

At regionals, Whitlow placed fourth for the boys’ individual. For the girls’ individual, Sarah Roddy placed sixth while Lauren Roddy placed second. The entire girls’ team placed fourth.

At regionals, Nathan Whitlow qualified for the boys’ state tournament. Whitlow did very well. He was twelfth out of 72 and was only two strokes away from being All-State. Whitlow said that he wasn’t nervous at all. “I put my headphones in and listened to music during warm-ups. I wanted to be mentally and physically pumped for the state tournament,” Whitlow commented.

Whitlow also hopes to be state champion next year for his senior year. “I want to thank everyone for cheering me on and especially to Coach Mark Hurst. It takes a lot to leave your wife and newborn baby at home to take some guy to play golf. He was a great mentor to me,” Whitlow said of the support he felt from the school, community, and his coach. He also said he hopes that the school has a great golf team next year.

Thanks to their outstanding regional performance, Sarah and Lauren Roddy qualified for the girls’ state tournament. Both ranked in the top 20 of 38 schools in Arkansas. “Last year I got to go to the state golf tournament, so I already knew what I was going against. However, this was Sarah’s first year to qualify for state so I was really excited for her and she was excited too,” said Lauren. She also said that because of participating at state last year, she wasn’t as nervous this year. “This season was good, but I’m hoping to do a little better next season,” Lauren commented about her hopes for next year.

There were numerous additions to the team. The sr. high boys’ team consisted of: Nathan Whitlow, third year member; Brent Ray, second year member; Forest Robertson, second year member; Alex Field, first year member; Michel Beaird, first year member; Caleb Miller, first year member; Daniel Davis, first year member and Mark Stone, first year member. The sr. girls’ Team was made up of: Lauren Roddy, second year member; Sarah Roddy, second year member; Ashley Jines, second year member; Jenna Pike, first year member and Rachel Simmons, first year member.