It wasn’t exactly how they wanted to end the year, but New Hope golf coach Angie Edge said her team has a lot to be proud of after ending their season on Tuesday with a fifth-place finish in the MHSAA Class 5A state championship.
Cadence Forrester shot a 15-over 159 through two days of competitive golf and finished with a team-best tie for sixth place at Elm Lake Golf Course, where the Trojans were the host school.
“The coaches from across the state were very complimentary of our course and of the organization of the tournament,” Angie said. “We eventually would possibly host again because of how well it went, but I think the biggest thing is that it’s just a testament of the support that we’re given from our parents, our school administration and the membership of Elm Lake.”
Brayden Gerber earned eighth place at 16-over, Lee Stockton tied for 25th place at 25-over, Joshua Bradberry tied with teammate Rhett Fleming in 28th place at 27-over and King Edge finished in 37th place at 30-over. It was a showing to be proud of from a team with only one senior, one sophomore, two freshmen and two eighth-graders, Angie said.
“The thing I want to focus on is just, we really had a great season,” Angie said. “We were by far the youngest state championship contender in our classification, and I’m pretty sure we were the youngest in all of the classifications. … We’re hoping this is a building step for us. I would just say the state championship is not a failure for us, it’s just our next step toward success, which we hope to see in the future.”
Part of the success the team sees more of in the future has to do with Forrester, who Angie said is one of her most consistent players on the team. He battled through a rain storm on Tuesday to help bring his team a top-five finish.
“For him to shoot what he shot on Tuesday was just phenomenal,” Angie said.
Despite their youth, the team had three individual players to win a tournament this season and captured the Region 1-5A championship on Oct. 6 behind their best-ever combined score of 313. As they get older and gain more experience, they will only get better – and stronger – she said.
“You’ve got one kid who is hitting the driver 140 yards versus another kid who is hitting it 320 (yards),” she said. “One of the things we want to improve on and continue to work on is drivers, and then we spend a lot of time working around the green chipping and putting. So, those will be things that we continue to work on.”
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