At this important tournament even experienced senior Carter Stephenson was feeling the nerves just before his first tee shot.
The boys golf team went down to the state finals in Bloomington on Oct. 6 and 7. Six golfers including senior Stephenson, junior TJ Quinn, junior Luke Purcell, junior Michael Kuchar, senior Grant Gould, and senior Brett Widlowski qualified for state.
¨I was very happy along with the team considering it was the goal to get there as a team,” said Purcell.
The boys qualified for state for the first time since 2000 and were happy with their accomplishment, but wanted to continue their success.
Before both day one and two all the boys had their own superstitions. Before day one Kuchar cleaned his clubs in the bathtub and ate microwave popcorn. After his day one top 30 placement Kuchar chose to not clean the clubs, but did eat microwaveable popcorn once more.
¨Hanging out with the team and having a good time helped a lot,” Purcell said. ¨Relaxing and listening to music.¨
Although the finish was not what they wanted with the not placing in the top 10, it was a good experience for the juniors and a good way to end a high school golf career for the seniors.
¨It was definitely a great way to end off my high school career,” Stephenson said. Ï definitely did not play as well as I wanted to but on the last day I birdied two of the last three holes.”
Stephenson reflected on state and saw it as a great experience to help prepare him for golfing in college. He doesn’t know where he will continue his golf career, but does plan on golfing at a university in college.
The overall consensus was that even when the golfing isn’t included, state was a fun experience for the whole team. Even though it was the last tournament they bonded and strengthened their friendships.
