KINGSLAND It was another year and another dominating performance from the Andrews girls golf team at the Class 4A State Championship.
On Tuesday, the Lady Mustangs won their second consecutive state title and 19th overall after a performance that was essentially over by the end of the first day as Andrews finished with a team score of 297-309—606, 43 strokes ahead of this year’s state runner-up Seminole.
“We’ve worked our tails off, just like with any other sport and every other golf team but man, I was thoroughly impressed with the way these girls competed this week,” Andrews head coach Mark Burgen said. “Just the calmness and attention to detail and the drive combined … that was the best golf that we’ve played all year and that’s what you hope for at the state tournament. You want to compete at the right time and these kids did that and as a coach, that was a lot of fun to watch.”
Andrews’ team score in the first round was a UIL record for Class 4A as well as a school record for the Lady Mustangs.
It was also the first time all five players shot under 80 for Andrews at a state tournament.
“We’ve done it in other tournaments but never at state,” Burgen said. “The kids worked their tails off and reaped the benefits of the hard work and it’s satisfying to see that.”
The team was 21 strokes ahead of everyone else going into the second round.
On Tuesday, sophomores Sloane Livingston and Abby Ballou both shot 76 to help lead Andrews.
Livingston went 74-76—150 and finished eighth overall while Ballou was right behind her in ninth at 75-76—151.
“How about those sophomores,” Burgen said. “They’ve never played at a state tournament before and they ended up leading the way for us. I was proud of them and I know they were nervous about it early on but they never showed it. They were composed and we had a good game plan. We came down and scouted the course and practiced the course and I feel like the kids were comfortable with the plan we had in place. It was so much fun to watch. We played better than expected and that’s great.”
Junior Emme Darnold finished tenth, going 72-80—152.
Seniors Zoe Woemmel and Emma Carrasco concluded their high school careers by placing in the top 20 as Woemmel went 76-78—154 to finish tied for 11th while Carrasco shot 79 on both days to finish with 158 and tied for 17th.
Bullard’s Gracie Smith took the individual title with her score of 74-67—141.
Seminole went 325-324—649 to finish runner-up while Davenport (318-332—650) was third for the second consecutive year.
Canyon finished fourth after going 325-329—654.
“Class 4A girls golf as a whole is getting better,” Burgen said. “Last year, we shot 309 on the first day, which was a good score for us and we had a 31-stroke lead. This year, we shoot 297 and only had a 21-stroke lead. That just shows how 4A golf is getting better. That’s fun to see. When you go to state, you want all the teams to play their best because then it makes it that much more fun when a team wins and you know you beat everyone when they were playing their best.”
