Beautiful blue skies, a light breeze, and sun shining onto the grassy hills. All these combine to create the perfect setting for a Mustang girls’ golf match. With returning seniors teamed up with new freshman talent on Varsity this year, Metea is dominating at each and every swing, making defeating competition look like a gimme.
This Thursday at Springbrook Golf Course, the Mustangs girls met up at the first hole (on a course of nine) to compete in the tri-meet. The schools competing were Metea Valley, Naperville North, and Wabousine Valley. Through each hole, the players showed lots of determination and encouragement to each other, uplifting each other when nice shots were made, and providing support when a bad one occurred. Metea showed great heart throughout the match, in many cases dealing with adversity well and pushing through.
“The team supported each other pretty well,” freshman Maya Shah said. “We held each other up even through our bad shots and cheered each other on in our good shots.”
On hole seven, senior McKenna Wigfield teed off a par three that ended up going past the hole and behind a small hill, putting her in a very difficult position compared to the rest. Yet she stayed calm, composed, and with a slight chip, she put her ball perfectly back onto the green and in position to finish with a simple putt.
“I was proud of my putting,” Wigfield said, “it was pretty consistent, and it kept my score low.”
In another instance of powering through adversity, senior Ansely Ellis was faced with a situation where her ball ended up directly against a tree, blocking her way to shoot towards the hole. She had to make a quick decision on how to play it out. After moments of self-deliberation, she confidently walked up, swung with her hybrid, and got her ball back into great playing position for a chip to the green.
The team has lots of superstitions, many revolving around the iconic sandwich restaurant Jersey Mike’s.
“Before a meet, I always have my Jersey Mikes,” Shah said.
Wigfield also resonates with the superstition.
”Whenever I have a bad shot, I honestly just eat my Jersey Mikes cookie and I feel better,” Wigfield said.
At the end of the day, Mustangs were led by Wigfield with a score of 40, Shah with 41, and Ellis with 43. Through a great team effort filled with confidence and skill, Metea came out of the meet with a dominant win to add more success to a season already plentiful with victory. Metea’s score ended at 169 to Wabounsie Valley’s score of 179, earning them second place. Naperville North came in last with a score of 186.
Come support the Mustangs at their next meet on Monday, Sept. 8, against Neuqua Valley.