Highland boys and girls golf teams show well at Belleville East Co-ed Challenge
When the Highland boys and girls golf teams got together Thursday to play in the Belleville East Co-ed Challenge, boys coach Brent James and girls coach Ashley DeSelm had no idea how their players would work together.
As fate would have it, things worked out pretty well for the Bulldogs golfers.
Despite the girls team missing five players due to a recent COVID-19 outbreak that affected Highland High School, the Bulldogs two teams combined forces and shot a sturdy 284 to finish second behind tournament champ O’Fallon at Tamarack Golf Course.
“It’s been a crazy week and the school kind of got hit hard and so there’s five girls out right now. I had to bring JV girls up and they worked really well with the boys,” DeSelm said. “It was really nice.”
James echoed those sentiments.
“I was really pleased,” James said. “The boys and girls had a good time and played well together. You never know kind of how they’re going to synergize when you put two people together that have never played together before and overall coach DeSelm and I were very pleased.”
Evan Sutton paired with Claire Korte in the first pairing and the duo fared well, shooting 66, which was good for third overall.
“Claire and Evan played together last year, and they were hitting tons of greens but the putts just weren’t falling (for them) today,” James said.
Bryce Knackstedt and Lilly Barker were the second pairing for HHS and they shot a 67 to finish sixth overall.
“Bryce and Lilly did really well,” DeSelm said. “They shot a 33 and 34 for a 67 so it was really nice to see those two groups in the top 10 fore sure.”
“I knew Bryce’s game but I didn’t know Lilly’s, so it was really nice to see them finish in the top 10 together,” James added.
Other key performers
Dominic Imig and Hannah Wilkes-Null, one of the girls JV call-ups, combined to shoot a 75.
“That was a pleasant surprise,” James said. “Dominic’s been playing really good golf. He’s not super long off the tee and Hannah’s not super long off the tee either and Tamarack’s kind of a lengthy course for these high school players, but they teamed well together and they were really steady out there.”
Jaxton Black and Brooke Hunsche were the fourth pairing for the Bulldogs and they shot a solid 76.
“Brooke is a freshman and she was just rock solid all day and she hit a lot of fairways and that gave Jaxton a little bit of a green light to swing away,” James said.
A strong O’Fallon squad claimed the tournament championship with first place score of 259, Highland was second with its 284, Belleville West placed third with 297 and Columbia rounded out the top four shooting a 299.
HHS girls team takes on Belleville West, Triad
On Wednesday, the Lady Bulldogs ventured to Oak Brook Golf Course in Edwardsville to play Belleville West and Triad in a tri-match.
Highland narrowly missed finishing second, as the Lady Bulldogs fired a 190 to finish third just three shots behind second place Belleville West, which shot a 187.
Triad took the match by shooting a strong 172.
DeSelm was thrilled with the team’s season-low showing given the recent challenges they have faced due to the recent COVID-19 absences.
“I’m happy that all these girls are working hard and having some good rounds,” DeSelm said.
Korte leads the way at Oak Brook
Korte led the Lady Bulldogs with a second place finish as she shot 41 and finished five over par. Freshman Brooke Hunsche shot a 48 to finish eighth and Cameron Burns shot a 50 to finish 11th.
“Cameron played great and Brooke played amazing,” DeSelm said. “That was her first time shooting in the 40’s and that was exciting for her as a freshman this year and I was proud of her for that.”
LBarker and Maddie Noeltner finished 13th and 14, respectively, shooting a 51 and 52.
The day ended up being a very productive one for the Lady Bulldogs.
“We were excited to be right there with Belleville West with three of our JB players stepping up,” DeSelm said.