Within the season’s first two days, Mexico has some boys who can hit the ball.
Mexico, Centralia at Arthur Hills Photo Gallery
Mexico boys golf hosted a meet March 26 at Arthur Hills …
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Within the season’s first two days, Mexico has some boys who can hit the ball.
Mexico, Centralia at Arthur Hills Photo Gallery
Mexico boys golf hosted a meet March 26 at Arthur Hills Golf Course one day after playing a meet at Montgomery County. The Bulldogs finished third with a 211 behind Centralia’s 168 and Hannibal’s 175, and Hannibal’s Kyle Locke finished first individually with a 38.
Jacob Stephens was Mexico’s best scorer with a 49, Eric Heaton followed with a 51, Karson Rowe had a 52, McIntosh Haag had a 59 and Matthew Painter finished with a 65. Tyrice Byrd had Mexico’s best junior varsity score of 56.
Head coach Becca Bates there is bound to be some nerves for the first matches of the season despite practicing plenty. After all of that practice and minimal season action, Bates said one thing is abundantly clear about her team.
“I’m excited because a lot of our new golfers that came out this year had never played, but they can hit the ball,” Bates said. “That’s the first step. You’ve got to be able to make contact so I’m excited to see how they grow over the year.”
Bates said the team’s goal at its home meet was to shoot a 200 as a team, and the Bulldogs finished with a 211, despite being short one varsity player. Mexico shot a 209 as a team in the previous day’s match at Montgomery County.
When it comes to Mexico’s ability to hit, Bates said she has seen they can do it with any club. It takes athleticism and skill to hit well, and she said her team has those qualities.
“They can make contact with it, and it goes far,” Bates said. “It goes right or it goes left, and I can fix that. If you can’t hit the ball, it’s a little harder.”
Mexico’s seniors Stephens and Heaton have been vocal about wanting to qualify for state, Bates said. She has even had that conversation with freshman Karson Rowe, who might not qualify this season but has those expectations for himself.
“A few kids would like to make it to state so it should be fun to watch them make a run at it,” Bates said. “We’ll see what happens. We’ve moved up a class (from Class 3 to 4) so it’s going to be pretty tough.”
