The Wright City girls golf team captured a victory in a triangular match against Holt and Warrenton on Sept. 11 at Warrenton Golf Course, finishing with a score of 214.

The Wildcats won the match by just three strokes. Holt came in second with a 217 and host-Warrenton placed third with a 242.

“We have this team first mentality which is nice and I think it’s a huge step in the right direction,” Wright City coach Stephen McClain said. “Yesterday was one of the first days we were really focused on a team win and every girl contributed to it.” 

McClain was proud of his team’s efforts despite the dry course conditions. The players worked on their pop shots in practice and the work came in handy with the conditions. McClain noted the “goldfish mentality” is what really helped his team push through. 

“What I tell them all the time is don’t spend today worrying about yesterday’s mistakes and I apply that to the golf course. We’re not allowed to have a negative attitude and that’s inadvertently making them play better golf,” McClain said. 

Junior Morgan Nute led the way for the team with a first-place finish of 39, followed by Abby Schanuel in third with a 52, Alexa Robertson in seventh with a 61, Emma Dietrich in ninth with a 62 and Charis Riggs in 17th with a 69.

“(Schanuel) played one of her best rounds in a bad course condition, (Robertston) finished it all for us because she had to beat her partner in order for us to win, (Dietrich) got a par on a par four which she hasn’t done before, (Nute) played the same course as everyone and played the best on those course conditions and (Riggs) hit a birdie on one of her first ever rounds,” McClain said.

McClain noted his team has been really focused on a team first aspect even though golf is more of an individual sport. 

“They get fired up for practices, fired up for meets and for everything. We have this routine down where everybody relies on each other,” McClain said. 

To keep that team unity, McClain often goes around during meets to let other players know when someone had a good round. He has also started incorporating a “game ball” when he finds a random golf ball in the woods and gives it to a player that earned it for that day. 

“I gave the game ball to (Schanuel) because she deserved it. She almost beat her personal best playing on a hard course,” McClain said. “We just want to celebrate each other in our small wins and know that we can count on each other. They’re not as stressed out on the course and it’s leading to better golf.” 

Warrenton played its second match of the season. Coach Kelly Anderson said even though her team’s performance was not its best, there were some high points.

Sophomore Makayla Mellegaard led the Warriors with a fifth-place score of 55, followed by Ady Rader and Paige Palmer in a tie for ninth with a 62, Sofi Murphy and Charlee Kersting in a tie for 12th with a 63 and Sophia Gagliano in 16th in 67.

“Mellegaard was our low for varsity and she put up a really good score, so that’s a really good positive (note) moving forward. We also had some junior varsity girls that scored really well in their match like Kaitlyn Schulze and Emma Flake,” Anderson said. 

Anderson went on to praise Mellegaard for her composure. 

“She was pretty calm. Even if she had a bad shot, she would focus on the next shot. That’s something that as a young golfer new to the sport is hard to do,” Anderson said

Schulze and Flake tied for first place with a score of 53 in the junior varsity match. 

Anderson said strong putting and team unity were her team’s strengths at the varsity match.

“We’ve done really well with putting and we’ve had a large focus on that,” Anderson said. “They’re also good about encouraging each other. We have 17 girls and I think it’s a good thing for us to be competitive with each other, but they’re really good about not making it a negative competition.” 

Anderson noted she hopes to see her team adjust better to course management in the future. 

“We didn’t manage the course very well, which will change as we get some more matches under our belt, especially with the lack of experience that we started with, that’s something we can easily fix,” Anderson said. 

As the Warriors play more matches this season, Anderson will place emphasis on the mental part of the game to her players. 

“We have to make sure we’re mentally prepared for good and bad shots and that’s going to be a big push for us these next couple of weeks,” Anderson said. “We won’t have a lot of practice time, so it’s just going to be learning and moving forward on the course.” 

Wright City will compete in the Versailles Invitational at 9 a.m. on Sept. 18 at Rolling Hills Country Club. Warrenton will participate in a dual match against Winfield at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 19 at Sun Valley Golf Course.