Maize hopes best golf is still ahead
Three years ago, reaching the Class 6A golf tournament would have been a cause for celebration for Maize's girls golf team.
Now, in his fourth year, Maize coach Ben Harlow is making sure his team knows that qualifying for the 6A tournament today in Olathe isn't a crowning achievement. The Eagles believe their best golf is still ahead of them.
" (In 2008) we went to state and we took it like it was a celebration and we're going to go and have a good time and our goal was to beat (only) one team," Harlow said. "This year's group is totally different."
When Harlow arrived at Maize, his goal was for his players to compete in difficult summer tournaments, allowing them to build confidence while also vastly improving their abilities.
Those efforts seem to have paid off. A year after four Maize players qualified for state, the Eagles took second in the Garden City regional last week and will send all six players to Olathe.
The increased competition has resulted in noticeable improvements since last season, when no Maize player shot better than 94 at the state tournament, where the winning score was 77.
"You just have to find those kids and talk them into it," Harlow said. "Golf is a simple sport. The more balls you hit, the better you are, and the more tournaments you play the better you are. Our group has really done a great job with that."
With two seniors and several young players making key contributions, Harlow's plan of building a sustainable program appears in full swing.
Sophomore Taelyn Entriken is the Eagles' top player, surprising if one considers her inconsistent freshman season.
Entriken, the granddaughter of Wichita State golf coach Grier Jones, shot a 107 at last year's state tournament. But she's likely to be in contention today, two weeks after easily winning the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail Division I meet with a 79.
Entriken is one of the Eagles' players who took Harlow's idea of playing more frequently to heart.
"She's been around a great amount of golf knowledge but she's worked harder than I would ever expect," Harlow said. "It's just a product of the hard work and dissatisfaction with last year's score. She has improved in a single year more than any golfer I've ever seen."
Maize also sends Lizzy Hurley, Lauren Grimes, Abbie Roth, Maddie Scheer and Ashley Reiswig to today's tournament.
"We just hope that we can put together four good scores and move up the ladder there," Harlow said.