Monterey Girls Golf Runner-Up In District

The Monterey girls golf team won district 7A runner-up honors at Southern Hills Golf Course on Monday and their coaches Ray Lee and John Looper said it’s onto the next challenge.

Behind the play of Payton Lewis, Sara Wilson and Bella Hassler, the Wildcats notched second place behind York Institute. Lee said that all three of their golfers came to play Monday, but this was no surprise since he has seen them perform all year long.

“Their consistency and drive to try and play better,” Lee said. “They don’t ever give up. They fight hard. You know, there’s still growth to be made, I think coach Looper and I both feel. But, their competitiveness has kind of shown through a little bit for them.”

With a total score of 377, the Wildcats were led by Lewis who shot a 106 and placed third as an individual. Looper said that being a coach is easier when your golfers have a desire to improve and said coaching these three girls is easy.

“They’re not just going through the motions, they are out here working everyday,” Looper said. “They’re trying to get better, trying to be a better player, they’re trying to have a winning team and that’s what you want. You’d rather have that than somebody that’s better but doesn’t have that drive.”

With the district tournament being the biggest round to date this season, Looper said that the message to the team was to stay calm and move on quickly from mistakes. He said he could tell that the girls were feeling the bright lights of a big tournament.

“When you play in a big tournament like this, there’s always going to be some nerves,” Looper said. “Even at the highest level, there’s going to be some. The girls were a little nervous going in but they calmed down one or two holes in.”

The Lady Wildcats will move onto the regional tournament set for this Friday at Cedar Crest Golf Club in Murfreesboro.