The Devine Arabian golf team finished up a successful campaign down in Corpus Christi at Oso Beach Golf Course last week. The team had earned a trip to Regional with their 2nd place showing at the district meet a few weeks ago. Although the Arabians were not in the hunt after the first day of competition, valuable experiences for next year’s returning underclassmen and the memories made for this year’s graduating seniors made the journey a very successful and rewarding one.
I couldn’t personally be more proud of how these ladies responded throughout the season. We stayed the course, so to speak, by honoring the integrity that the game demands and by competing the best that we could. There were teams that we weren’t able to beat throughout the year but continued to work hard, not get frustrated by previous final results, and we came out 2nd to a very talented Carrizo Springs team at District.
Taylor Diaz was able to come back from a torn ACL that prematurely ended her basketball career and helped out our scores tremendously. Jamie Stein, in only her second year of golf, shot two good rounds at Regional to end her career on a positive note. I am extremely proud and appreciative to have coached those two ladies this season.
The three sophomores, Kayla Busby, Shelby Spivey, and Preslee Quisenberry now have a taste of what advancing to Regionals feels like. They will be hungry to get back next season and to shoot better scores on the first day to not dig such a huge hole to climb out of. I look forward to watching these three improve over the next two seasons.
We have already reached out to some students about possibly playing next year. It would be nice to have 4 to 7 additional players to have one solid team at the least but I would really like to field two teams. Our team goal was to make it to Regional this year and we did. Next year’s goal is to not only get there, but to play better and crack the top 8 in the standings. By the time Kayla, Shelby, and Preslee are seniors, we want to be one of the last teams teeing off on that second day of the Regional Tournament that will have a chance to advance to the state meet.
A special thanks to the Devine Golf Course for all of their help and use of the facility. Yes, we pay to play but everyone there is very accommodating and helpful. Little Caesar’s Pizza in Lytle and Devine’s Churches Chicken are valuable assets by providing food for over 120 competitors and coaches when we host tournaments here in Devine. Jerry Busby, Michele Spivey, Jennifer Wofford, and Les Tilley were a lot of help to me personally throughout the season so a big thank you to you all as well.
By Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer