The Arkadelphia High School golf teams put together a solid final week of the regular season in advance of this week’s 4A-7 District golf tournament that Arkadelphia will host at DeGray State Park Golf Course. Arkadelphia will host the 4A-7 Girls’ tournament Tuesday at DeGray with the boys’ tournament taking place on Wednesday.
The Badgers and Lady Badgers played last Monday at DeGray and Tuesday at Long Hills in Benton in the last two regular season matches of the 2018 season.
On Monday, the Lady Badgers finished first place out of four teams with sophomore Miranda Raney finishing at co-medalist, tying for low round of the tournament. The Badger finished second place out of four in the four-team tournament on the boys’ side.
On Tuesday, the boys put together a solid performance, finishing in second place – just one stroke behind Sheridan. Senior Henry Hunley was the tournament medalist with a career-best 39.
The Lady Badgers finished third out of five behind Sheridan and White Hall with junior Kinley Green turning in a career-best 49.
Throughout the season, the Badgers and Lady Badgers have showed signs of what AHS golf coach Steve Patterson would like to see at next week’s district tournament.
“We’ve had some really good individual performances from different people all season,” said Patterson. “But we’ve not had that day yet when everybody plays well on the same day and that’s what you have to have to win the district tournament.
“Hopefully with us playing the district tournament at DeGray, we can play loose and well since we’re familiar with the course,” Patterson added. “Our seniors this year have provided great leadership and I’m looking forward to seeing them compete next week.
For the Lady Badgers, the lone senior is Faith Ochello, who is a three-year letter winner in the golf program. Ochello and Raney represented AHS at the 4A Girls’ State Tournament. The Lady Badgers will be competing for a team championship this season and a team berth into the state tournament.
Earlier in the season, Raney led the Lady Badgers to a first-place finish in a five-team match at Isabella GC in Hot Springs Village. On August 16th, Ochello was the medalist at DeGray vs. Fountain Lake.
On the boys’ side, Matt Green and Payton Edington will wrap up their fourth seasons on the Badger golf team. Edington will be looking for a return trip to the 4A State Tournament. Along with Hunley, Green and Edington, senior Austin Edington and junior Eli Perrin also represent the Badgers on the links. Patterson has a unique situation in the 2018 team in having a set of three brothers in the top four players in Green, Edington and Edington.
Some of those individual performances Patterson mentioned include a win for the Badgers in a five-team match at Malvern Country Club last week that saw Edington earn medalist honors with a 37 in the nine-hole match. That followed a previous tournament at Malvern CC in late August in which the Lady Badgers won a five-team match and the Badgers finished second on the boys’ side.
“The teams have worked hard since June 1, then came back and worked hard after the dead weeks,” said Patterson. “Golf season starts before school starts and it can sneak up on you if you’re not ready for it, but I’m proud of our team to this point. I look forward to seeing what they will do at the district tournament next week.”