With regionals quickly approaching the Daviess County girls golf team is getting themselves ready with a big tournament, as they have been chosen to compete in the Kentucky High School Golf Coaches Association All-State Championship this weekend.
The Lady Panthers finished sixth overall (585) as a team, qualifying as part of 10 teams that were selected by a points system to compete in the event. Head Coach Jonas Billingsley said this is the first time that Daviess County has qualified for the event as a team, with individuals having qualified in past years.
Billingsley said that he’s thrilled with how his team has competed this season, saying that time invested equals rewards achieved.
“They have all impressed this year,” Billingsley said. “Each one of these girls have set multiple personal best scores this year. Two easy standouts were a couple of rounds posted under par this year; Alexa Salamah (South Warren Inv. – 69) & Claire Reynolds (Trigg County Inv. – 68).”
This success is not surprising to Billinglsey and company, as they have had lofty goals from the second this season started.
“Our expectations have been high since day one,” Billingsley said. “From the beginning, we knew we had four young ladies that can compete at a high level. A region title and impressing at the state tourney has been our goal from day one.”
As far as this weekend goes, Billingsley and the Lady Panthers are hoping to finish within the top-three. Billingsley said that they’ve played most of the teams in the field and feel like they’re very capable of placing in the top-three, as they will rely on a strength of theirs that has been utilized as the season progressed.
“Consistency in scoring and competition within our team [have been our strengths],” Billingsley said. “These ladies push each other to get better. They are competitors and don’t like to take the status of No. 2, No. 3, or No. 4. They want to beat each other and put time in each week to get better, hoping to improve.”
With regionals coming two days after the competition on Tuesday, this is a great opportunity for Daviess County to fine tune some things. Also getting some players back after health issues, Billingsley the KGCA All-State Championship will be great to prepare them to make a big postseason run.
“It is a great primer heading into postseason play,” Billingsley said. “Getting the invite to this competition alone is a heavy morale booster. Alexa missed the last week of competition due to sickness, so getting her back out and swinging the club is definitely a plus before Region.”
