Emerson Eckler’s growth from freshman to sophomore this season led her to playing with the state’s best.

Eckler qualified for the Class 2 state girls golf championships for the first time in her career, finishing 56th out of 89 golfers with a two-day score of 214 on Oct. 20-21 at Meadow Lake Acres Country Club in New Bloomfield. She capped a season that included being the runner-up at the Clarence Cannon Conference tournament in Hannibal and taking 13th at districts in Eldon.

“I was very happy to make the jump from last year of never placing in a meet to this year advancing not only at conference to state,” Eckler said. “My coaches were a big part of that, helping me jump.”

Before moving from Mark Twain to Centralia last year, Eckler said she played “maybe three times a summer” but made a bigger commitment to golf when she dropped softball and joined the golf team. She and her brother, Quin, joined the school and gave Centralia’s athletics program two more quality kids, according to head coach John Finlay, and Eckler is also an officer in FFA. 

“They are wonderful kids,” Finlay said. “We saw lots of improvement last year (from Emerson) but just could not turn the corner. She had a couple of rounds last year where she played pretty good golf. This year, consistency struck and she got focused.”

Finlay said Centralia’s golfers meet once a week in the summer, and Eckler said she gained confidence and a belief in an ambitious future in golf. Eckler applying herself some more in the offseason months could result in more good scores and accomplishments, according to Finlay.

Eckler shot an 89 at Norwoods Golf Course in Hannibal to earn first team all-conference honors while her senior teammate and 2024 state qualifier Kyla Spickert tied for 10th to be second team all-conference. Eckler and Spickert alternated being the team’s best individual golfer in meets this season, were co-medalists by sharing the top score at the team’s final home meet and took first as a duo with a 76 in the Paris Scramble Tournament — what Eckler refers to as a highlight of the season.

“It really helped me because Kyla is kind of quiet, but she definitely has a competitive side,” Eckler said about her friendship with Spickert. “During practice, we would start off the day with a chipping contest — closest to the pin wins, best out of five. We played on the weekends together just pushing ourselves for bragging rights.”

Finlay said Eckler was better from “100 yards and in” and “as good of a chipper” the team had this season. He said her putting also improved.

“Those two steps make a huge difference in the golf game,” Finlay said. “A lot of people can get there and they just have a tough time on it. She turned it into a strength.”

Eckler said she bounced back better after a bad hole this year and reached the height of her play at Meadow Lake Acres with a personal-best with an 85, or 13-over par, to tie for fifth place. In her return to the course at state, Eckler shot a 106 on the first day and a 108 on the second day. 

Meadow Lake Acres was different in late October than it was a month earlier. Eckler and others had to bundle up for cooler temperatures and wind gusts of about 40 mph on the second day, which Eckler said can be disruptive simply through the sound of wind in the ears. On top of that, she said the course was 600 yards longer after the tee boxes were extended for the state tournament.

“It was pretty tough, but I definitely think I was more comfortable playing there than any other course,” Eckler said. 

Finlay said the wind can make it more difficult to maintain posture when swinging a club so he expected the score to be higher for Eckler this time around. That first time was also “about as good as she’s played or could play right now.”

“We’re proud of how she played and her mentality throughout the two-day tournament,” Finlay said.

Finlay said Eckler had quite a season, including her performance at conference against a deep field. Highland went on to become the Class 1 state champion, and Finlay said other Clarence Cannon schools had state qualifiers so that accomplishment stands out. 

Eckler said she wants to be more consistent with her tee shots and not be so hard on herself in the future. 

“After I score one good round one day and then the next day it’s not as high of a score, I want to work on not being so hard on myself,” Eckler said. “I’ll probably get lessons this winter to take that next step.”