The West Henderson Falcon golf team won the WMAC Conference Championship at Etowah Golf Course on Monday, April 29, with a final score of 643.
“It felt really good for us all to play really well at the same time,” senior Jayden King said. “One person has played well one match and other people haven’t, and it felt good to bring it all together at our last match.”
The team was lead by King, junior Wyatt Hughes and team captain, junior AJ Shaffer.
“AJ really took the leadership role with being the team captain,” King said. “But I’ve brought the stuff that I’ve learned throughout my experience and helped out some people.”
The upperclassmen experience has affected the team this year with multiple players having played for many years.
“I’ve been playing for five years, and it has made me learn that practice and being taught is helpful throughout my career,” King said.
Many players have cited Hughes and his experience as a helpful addition to the team.
“I started playing in seventh grade when I made the middle school team and have been playing since,” Hughes said. “We had a lot of good leadership freshman and sophomore year, so we had good role models to look up to. And AJ, Jayden and I filled in as the leaders on the team and I think it showed in our performance this year.”
The underclassmen have noticed the impact of the leadership from the upperclassmen
“The upperclassman are a really big influence on the team,” freshman Luke Gilsdorf said. “They set a good example for the team. With how well they play, it has really encouraged us to play better as well.”
The team performed with their lowest scores in their final matches of the year.
“The team has been solid; we have been playing really well at the end of the year, which gave us a lot of momentum for regionals, and hopefully state,” Hughes said.
On Monday, May 6, the team came in fifth at regionals with a final team score of 315.
“We didn’t quite get the score we needed to move into the state championships,” sophomore Will Parker said. “But overall this season was a great experience.”
By: Ian Domansky, Feature Writer
