COLUMBUS — It truly was a bittersweet weekend for Lady Eagles girls’ golf coach Roni Halberg and four members of her squad.
First, the business at hand. Colonel Crawford placed seventh in the state in Division II, the school’s best finish in its three-peat appearance at The Ohio State University’s Gray Course.
But for Halberg and a quartet of seniors — Lucy Myers, Lexi Rush, Ayla McKibben, and Claire Lehman — it was a time for hugs, tears and remembering the level of success they have achieved.
“It’s pretty good. We were hoping to get into the top half, but we’ll be content with this, especially under these conditions,” Halberg said. “We’re higher than we’ve been in the past.”
The team finished 11th last season.
Myers and Rush each shot an 88, McKibben a 94, Lehman a 97 and junior Madison Gray a 99 on Friday.
Saturday’s scores overall were driven up by the rain (an hour delay in the morning), wind and colder afternoon temperatures. Myers recorded a 91, Rush a 93, Gray a 90, Lehman a 96 and McKibben a 108.
The Lady Eagles shot a 367 and followed that with a 370 for a 737 total score.
It was an emotional weekend for Halberg and her players.
“The biggest thing is this is Lucy’s last year. We’ve brought up this program. I’ve always had her in mind … it’s a really tough day knowing I just watched her play her last hole. I’m glad everyone understood .. I got to walk the last holes with her. This is a memory we’re always going to have and having Marty along for the ride too … and it’s been great.”
Coaching her daughter presented a unique perspective.
“Showing the maturity and how far we’ve come together, the two of us. She said, ‘This is us, now.’ To have that ownership you know, there’s been bumps on the way when you’re coaching your own kid,” Halberg said.
The foursome also is special for their coach.
“When we were approaching our last hole, we heard applause up on the green. Lucy looked at me and said, ‘That was A. A just finished.’ Both of us started tearing up because Ayla has been here just as long as Lucy’s been golfing.
“Those two kind of struggled the most throughout the day today. A lot of people would say they’re experienced, how are they struggling so much? But again, they’ve built this and have been such an integral part of us being here three years in a row.”
Rush also was a key component.
“She played some of her best golf today and she even said, ‘Why did it take me until the very last tournament of the year to learn how to golf?’ She did pick it up really, really fast.”
Lehman serves as the steadying force.
“I said from day one Claire is my calmest golfer of the group and me walking the rest of the holes with just Lucy, they got it. Claire said, ‘I was good the whole day. Coach, you do what you have to do.’ That’s been Claire the whole time and she’s such a good mediator on the team. It’s leadership of a different kind.”
Weather played a factor, but the Lady Eagles were prepared for it.
“We never back off of practices (at Valley View) in weather like this. Yes, it definitely impacts the game, and we will see scores a lot higher today than yesterday. But they knew it was going to happen and they just came prepared,” Halberg said.
“You just have to accept you’re going to be wet, you’re going to be cold. It’s going to be windy. You have to adjust. They have that strength, and they don’t cry about it or whine about it.”
Junior Madison Gray will return next season without those four upperclass teammates.
“Next year I might have to be here by myself, so I got to know the course this year. Being here watching last year helped a lot with my nerves. Also, I knew what to expect; to expect the rough to be thick, so I was prepared.”
She adjusted well to the conditions, actually shooting nine strokes better on Saturday than she did on Friday.
Gray said she needed to re-focus after a poor round.
“I can’t do anything about yesterday. Today’s a new day,” she said.
Learning from the seniors is something that Gray acknowledged.
“They taught me to pursue with everything that I struggle with. That it’s OK to hit a bad shot. Just hit a good one after that.”
Halberg exchanged hugs with her team and wiped away tears as she summed up the recent successes.
“I could not be more proud of what they’ve done and how they have kept going. Thanks to Lucy and Ayla we do have more people playing, and that has helped get the interest and built it up.”
DIVISION II GIRLS TEAM SCORES
Place Teams 1st 2nd Total 5th player
1 Col. Academy 307 313 620 189
2 Garaway 311 326 637 175
3 Fenwick 358 352 710 194
4 Akron SVSM 355 364 719 205
5 Independence 354 373 727 211
6 Laurel 358 371 729 221
7 Colonel Crawford 367 370 737 207
8 Westfall 365 372 737 215
9 Van Buren 365 380 745 225
10 Seven Hills 376 376 752 220
11 Milan Edison 367 389 756 227
12 Hopewell-Loudon 376 390 766 216
· Upper Sandusky’s Brock Montgomery finished tied for third in the boys D-II state tournament, shooting an even-par 72 in the second round to finish at 149 overall.