Manhattan High girls’ golf opened the 2023 season this week with a pair of top-three finishes.
The Indians took second out of 12 teams Wednesday at the 6A State Preview tournament at the Emporia Golf Course. They finished with a team total of 329 points to place behind Olathe Northwest’s 326.
Freshman Maddie Myers led the way for Manhattan, finishing third with a score of 79. Sophomore Kat Ball came in seventh at 81, sophomore Lily Bahr tied for ninth at 83, sophomore Wrenn Burton was 16th at 86, junior Emily Wuggazer tied for 17th at 87 and sophomore Jessica Kim tied for 36th at 96.
On Monday, the Indians pulled out a third-place finish at the Firebird Invitational at the Lawrence Country Club. They tallied 344 team points to finish behind Shawnee Mission East and Olathe Northwest, who tied for the victory with 327 points.
Myers paced Manhattan again with a score of 79, which was good for fifth place individually. Bahr tied for 10th at 86, Ball came in 13th at 88 and Wuggazer was 15th at 91. Junior Kaitlyn Lagabed finished 20th at 93 and Kim was 27th at 97.
It was a strong start for an Indians squad that expects its depth to help it build on last year’s sixth-place finish at the 6A state tournament. Five of the six members of Manhattan’s state team are back, with Myers joining the group amid a lot of buzz around what she offers.
“I think this year the experience is going to be phenomenal,” said head coach Paige McCarthy. “Plus we’ve got Maddie Myers coming in as a freshman, and she doesn’t have high school experience, but she’s got a plethora of years of experience playing competitively. I think that she will step very well into her role.”
McCarthy acknowledged her team is still very young — no seniors have played in a varsity tournament yet — but said the juniors provide quality leadership, and even the sophomores have a solid year of varsity golf under their belts.
Additionally, she said the team chemistry is impeccable.
“Last year, we were able to connect and grow through that year together,” Ball said. “I think this year we’ll do the same and continue to help each other out and get better as a team like we were last year.”
McCarthy said her golfers are self-motivated to improve on their own time, and since last season ended, they’ve been practicing regularly. That was particularly beneficial last week, when the excessive heat altered practice schedules; as a result of her players’ consistent training through the summer, McCarthy said she didn’t feel like there was any lost time.
She said she’s seen improved consistency in her returning players, which will allow them to be more reliable day in and day out. And when more players are more consistent, her team can compensate for someone who might be having an off round.
Wuggazer said she focused her time this offseason on putting more power into her swing as well as working on her short game “over and over.”
“I feel like I’ve improved quite a bit,” she said. “Even if the scores don’t show right now, we’re working on it, and I can feel the improvement. Everything looks better, so I know it’s all going to come together. It’s all going to mesh and be really good.”
While the Indians succeeded in their goal of making it to the second day of state by being one of the top six teams in 2022, McCarthy said several of her players were disappointed in their individual performances that second day.
She said she’d publicly reveal her goals for the squad at the end of the season, but she has a good feeling about what her team can accomplish.
“I just feel like this year, we’ll be much more competitive on a regular basis because we are so deep,” McCarthy said. “I think on any given day, any four of our six can be the best scores, and we’ve got probably another two or three who will fit into the mix sometime during the season also.”
Wuggazer and Ball both said they believe the team will crack the top three or four at state.
“I feel like we’re going to be really good this year,” Wuggazer said. “We always have fun at practice, and even if we aren’t so excited for the drill that we’re going to do, we still make the best of it. We make it fun for each other.”
“We’re able to push each other harder this year, to go further at state, to do better in these tournaments,” Ball added. “I believe we will and can win more tournaments and play better individually to do better for Manhattan High.”
