Nov. 2—Tuscola golf didn’t get exactly the result they were looking for at the state championships, but an impressive day two helped the team climb the leaderboards.
South Point ended up claiming the state title with Lake Norman Charter claiming second, but just a week prior Tuscola had beaten both teams in the West Regional championships.
“That’s how skilled this team is,” Tuscola coach Sean Williams said. “We beat the state champions at regional. It just wasn’t our days to win state, but they played great. I’m so proud of them and what they did. They’re a very tight group. They really work together well as one unit. They went into an area of their mental game they never thought they could go into.”
On day one, the team shot a combined 280 — putting the Mountaineers back in second-to-last place in the tournament.
But on day two, they bounced back in a big way, shooting a 270 and jumping up to sixth on the leaderboard.
“I’m very proud of them,” Williams said. “That golf course was not easy. The greens were very fast. They improved and had a lot of fun as well.”
This was the first year under Williams that the entire team had qualified for the state championships.
“The pressure is really high. It’s not really like a typical tournament where you have pressure for a couple of holes and it goes away. That pressure is always there thought every hole both days,” Williams said. “I know they were all feeling it. It’s difficult. They fought through it. You face adversity in every tournament, every championship.”
Senior McKenna Williams finished sixth overall, sophomore Abbey Adams finished tied for 53rd and junior Josie Ostendorff finished tied for 72nd.
The run to the state championships put a cap on a storybook season for the Mounties.
“To get to state as a team, I wanted that for them. They’ve been working so hard. I never expected the regional win,” Williams said. “I feel like I should be paying a ticket to watch them and experience this.”
