The HSE girl’s golf season official concluded on Oct. 1st after the Royals had a solid showing at State Finals. This was the ending to a stellar season for the Royals as they played well throughout. The season opened with an invitational at Stoney Creek Golf Course where the Royals finished 3rd, this meet set a tone for the rest of their season. The team had six seniors on it, a varsity team had only five spots, meaning that at least one of the seniors would not be on the varsity team.
“It had the makings to be difficult,” assistant coach Peter Salvadori said. “But it wasn’t because the six seniors did a fantastic job of making sure that they knew what their role was.”
This was especially important because of the emergence of freshman Janelle-Meghan Garcia and junior Ella Bui. Both of these young golfers stepped up in a huge way this season. On the biggest stage at state finals, Garcia finished second among Hamilton Southeastern golfers while Bui finished third. Bui credits most of her success to her teammates.
“[My teammates] each put it so much work and effort to reach their goals,” Bui said. “We motivated and pushed each other to stay positive during a bad round and would always be there for each other no matter what.”
This team comradery seemed to be a theme for the Royals as they finished up a good regular season and headed into their sectional meet. At sectionals the Royals had a top showing, finishing just two stroke away from winning it outright. Senior Lauren Stewart led the way for the Royals with a score of 77 and Garcia was not far behind with a 79. This second-place finish advanced the Royals to regionals where they put on a clinic from the start.
“We came off of sectional, which we lost to Noblesville by a few strokes, got out at Edgewood at Regionals on that Saturday morning and from the moment it started the girl’s kind of took off and left,” Salvadori said. “It was just pretty obvious to me that it was going to be a strong day.”
It was a strong day indeed, four out of the five golfers finished with scores under 80. These strong showings allowed Hamilton Southeastern to cruise to a 12-stroke victory.
“After coming up short to Noblesville during sectionals, it made us more ambitious,” Bui said. “It was great to see our hard work pay off.
Following their dominant regionals performance, the Royals headed to the state finals. As previously mentioned, the Royals had a good but not great performance to end their season. Even with this disappointing finish the future is still bright for the Royals.
“Next year, obviously varsity wise, we have Ella coming back, we have Janelle coming back,” Salvadori said. “Those are kind of our two big pieces.”
If Garcia and Bui continue to develop at this pace then big things should be in store for the Royals once again.