Young Highland girls golf team starts fall season with hope, striving for growth
Fall golf came to pass for the Highland girls golf team.
The Lady Bulldogs opened the season Saturday with an appearance in the Alton Kick Off Tournament at Rolling Hills Golf Club in Godfrey.
HHS, which is decidedly young this year with just one senior in the fold, struggled against the bigger schools with a sixth place finish but shot a very respectable 283 on a warm, humid day for golf while playing with COVID-19 mandated masks on.
“It was a huge difference for those girls and it was really the first day that they had to wear the masks where it was a very high heat index, so for all the girls across the board, it was a struggle,” Highland coach Ashley DeSelm said. “They had to drink a lot of water and stay hydrated. We enjoy the fall tournament because they pair up (players) and do like a scramble shamble and the girls just have fun with it.”
Lilly Barker and Claire Korte each shot a round of 88 to lead the Lady Bulldogs.
On Monday, the Lady Bulldogs had their first home match of the season, hosting rival Triad at Highland Country Club. HHS played the fairways well but struggled a bit with putting and Triad outshot the Lady Bulldogs 181-207.
“The girls kind of struggled with their putting game that day but Highland Country Club is a tough course and every team that comes to our course says it is a pretty tough course to play, so our girls just need to work on their putting and chipping and getting those numbers knocked down,” DeSelm said.
Korte, the Lady Bulldogs lone senior, led the team with a 47 for the day. Kalei Gould shot a 52 with Barker (54), Reagan Henrichs (54), Maci Miles (57), and Brooke Hunsche (61) rounding out the rest of the Lady Bulldogs scorers.
“Claire ended up having a good night, she shot a 47 so I was pretty proud her for that,” DeSelm said. “Claire’s getting stronger and she’s my senior this year, so I have high hopes for her. It’s just really fun to see golf, getting the nerves out and getting to play again especially after being stuck inside for who knows how long with the whole COVID-19 situation. These girls are just excited to be playing, masks and all.”
HHS shows well at tournament
Highland then ventured to Granite City on Tuesday for the Madison County Large School Tournament at Legacy Golf Club.
The Lady Bulldogs finished fifth in the tournament with a score of 407. Gould led the way with a 99 and 15th place finish while Korte shot a 100 and finished in 17th place.
Sophomores Henrichs (102) and Hunsch (103), Miles (111), and Barker (111) rounded out the rest of the field for Highland.
“Raeghan came through with a 102 which is a great score for her and the same with Brooke, I was pretty proud of her, too,” DeSelm said. It’s good to see that their work is paying off.”
Early returns are encouraging
DeSelm is pleased with the team’s early progress on total match scores in tournaments.
“Last year at the end of the year, we were shooting 407 to 415 in tournaments, so starting of the bat at the 407 level, that’s exciting. I think these girls know what they need to do and they’re going to work hard to accomplish that and our team goal is to be in the 300’s,” DeSelm said.
Highland returns to action at 1 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21, with a trip to the Belleville West Invitational at The Orchard Golf Club.
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 11:39 PM.