It was a huge milestone for the Lady Spartans’ golf team on Thursday as the ladies brought home the Utah State 2A Golf Championship, which made them undefeated all season.
The day before the championship tournament, the team arrived at Mountain View Golf Course for a practice round. As they were leaving the high school, one of the players received a text from her sister showing the course covered in snow. When they arrived, sure enough, there were still patches of snow on the ground. The team decided that they could handle it and wanted to experience some of the conditions they may encounter the next day. The girls golfed 18 holes and were the only team that showed up that day to practice while braving the elements of nature. In fact, they were the only ones on the course.
“The girls had a great practice round,” said Emery’s head coach Tom Hansen. “They hit different clubs, especially on the par threes, to get their distances correct for the next day. It was breezy but that helped us prepare because Thursday’s conditions mirrored Wednesday’s practice round. We were ready to play.”
The next day at the championship match, the ladies nabbed the title.
“This is a great group of girls,” said, Scott Lofley who has been Emery’s assistant coach for the past three years. “It is great to see them do so well and accomplish their goals of a state championship.”
“It was a great accomplishment and reward for the group of girls who started the team four years ago. Five of the six players on the team are seniors, four of them competed at Emery’s first state championship,” stated Hansen.
“Coach asked me to win my group and that’s what I did.” said Erin Oliverson, the only senior not to compete in Emery’s first state tournament four years ago at Cove View Golf Course in Richfield, where in their inaugural season the team placed third in state. This year would be a different story for a team that placed third, third and second the previous three years. Oliverson scored a total of 48 points.
“I couldn’t hit my driver as well as I usually do. But, I was hitting my irons solid.” explained Lainee Jensen, who was the only junior on the varsity team this year. Jensen played in the third position and won her group by 10 strokes. Helping give a cushion for the final two girls, Jensen was key to the team’s victory while scoring 64 points.
“We worked on my drives on the range before the round and I hit the ball well. I really putted the ball well today. I just don’t think putting is that difficult.” Sydney Timothy stated. Timothy battled hard and had her best outing of the season. She also won her group with 62 points. Sydney has been on the team for four straight years. Hansen stated that she is easy to get along with and stays even and calm in all circumstances on the course.
“I have been working on slowing my swing down and not getting too worked up over one hole or one bad shot,” stated Sarah Swasey. “I knew I needed a 65 today for our team to have a good chance of winning a championship and that’s what I did. Kasey Eddgehouse at the golf course has helped me improve and I am grateful for all my coaches’ help.”
Hansen explained that Swasey had a rough state tournament last year in terrible conditions at Soldier Hollow. On this day, her final day of high school golf, after four straight championship appearances, she dominated her group hitting towering drives down the fairway and scored a total of 65 points.
“I knew we could do this,” claimed Taijah Price. “We are a had working group of girls. This has been such a great experience. I just stayed consistent all day and did what I could to help the team win. The parade and greeting we had when we got home was awesome.”
Price won the region tournament, shooting 74 points in the Stableford scoring system where a higher score is better and 90 is a scratch round of golf. She followed that up with 76 points at the state championship. She was the fifth place medalist individually and helped lead her team to victory. According to Hansen, Price rarely gets rattled and really preforms well under pressure on the golf course.
Sydnee Guymon played in the last group of the day as the first place overall medalist from Region 15.
“I fought through a lot of emotions out there on the course today,” stated Guymon. “There was a lot of adversity and it was not easy. I just tried to stay mentally tough and kept thinking of all the hours and hours of practice that had brought me to this point. I knew I had prepared and done all I could to get a state championship. I knew we really deserved this and I was not going to let down no matter what.”
Guymon reportedly had to fight through a two-stroke penalty for fixing a hole that was in disrepair due to a flag-stick that had damaged the rim of the hole. She also had a dog barking loudly at her in a yard next to the course while taking her back swing. Cell phones were also going off while trying to hit the ball.
“She showed extreme mental fortitude to battle though the adversity and stay even with all the region champions,” stated Hansen. “She would have finished tied for second without the two stroke penalty, but with it, she still shot a team best 77 points, which earned her fourth place overall individually.”
“For four years, this championship was the goal. For three years, that goal was just out of reach. This year, they would not be denied,” said Hansen. “As a team, they achieved the ultimate reward as state champions at Emery High. Congratulations to the team. We need to thank our many sponsors who help fund the green fees, balls, hotel rooms and other needs of the team. We would also like to thank our parents they supported us all along the way. In our region, the teams loved coming to Millsite because our parents would cook them a meal that would allow the girls to socialize after the round and make life-long friendships. The team would especially like to thank the first responders that met them at the county line. The ride from there to the high school was a highlight they will not soon forget. Our community supports each other so well. No Salt Lake area team could ever get the feeling of love and appreciation that we did as we returned home to Emery County.”
All Region season Top 10:
1. Sydnee Guymon – Emery 256
2 Taijah Price – Emery 254
3 Joopy Baumgartner – Grand 226
3 Sarah Day – Grand 226
5 Lainee Jensen – Emery 223
6 Sydney Timothy – Emery 207
6 Jamie Day – Grand 207
8 Sarah Swasey – Emery 204
9 Annie Kopell – Grand 177
10 Charley Kohler – Grand 155
