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Lady Bison head to state ready to make more memories
McCOOK, Neb. -- Golf may be an individual sport, but the state-bound McCook Lady Bison have plenty of good things to say about their team.
"This team has developed good friendships," said senior Kacee Samway. "Unlike being on a large team, we've had the chance to really get to know each other and bond."
Fellow teammate and classmate Hannah Kohl also spoke highly of this year's squad.
"Overall, this is the best group I've been part of the last four years," she said. "We all get along pretty well and have made lots of good memories."
What sort of memories?
"It never fails that we hit a bird on our drives," Samway said with a laugh. Not far away, Holland Stagemeyer nodded her head, as if to say, "oh yeah," to her statement.
The best one, though?
"Our coach is quite the singer," Samway declared.
Without prompt, this was confirmed by two other girls on the five-person team.
Considering the success of this year's squad, can you really blame head coach Scott Leisy? The Lady Bison have made the most of their experienced varsity squad. This season's highlights include winning the Southwest Conference and B-4 district titles.
However, the season's not over yet. An even bigger prize awaits next week in Columbus.
Four of the five Lady Bison golfed at last year's Class B state meet held at Quail Run. The experiences and attitudes vary among those four, but the overall mood is that this team is ready to build off of their sixth-place finish in 2015.
"There's trees everywhere, so you really can't use your driver much," said Samway. "There's a lot of doglegs. It's definitely not for a long-distance player."
Samway is a four-time state qualifier. Her finishes include 20th last year, 11th in 2014 and 27th in 2013.
"I don't like (Quail Run), because there's trees everywhere," Cassidy Redl confirmed. "Last year, I had a really good first day, but struggled the second, so I'm anxious to go back there and redeem myself."
Redl carded a 195 at last year's meet to finish 28th.
Kohl is a three-time state qualifier, having finished 58th in 2013 and 26th last year. She said a lot of thought goes into how you hit the ball at Quail Run.
"It's definitely a course where you have to think about where you want to be for that next shot and position yourself well," she said.
Depending on who you ask, Stagemeyer, who finished 59th last year, may have the best or most unfortunate story from Quail Run.
"Last year, I used my driver and my ball went into the trees," she started saying. "I couldn't figure out where it went, so I asked the ball spotter and he said 'yeah, it's in my hood,' and I didn't know what to do."
"After I finished that round, Kacee was like, 'hey, did you hear about that girl who hit it into somebody's hood?' So it wasn't very friendly to me last year."
The only Lady Bison not to golf there? Freshman Faith Hansen.
"This is actually my first year golfing, so all the courses have been new to me," she admitted.
Tee times begin at 9:30 a.m. on Monday. Hansen will be the first Lady Bison to golf, as she's schedule to tee off at 9:30 a.m. on the first hole. Also starting on Hole 1 will be Kohl (10:50 a.m.) and Samway (11:00 a.m.). Stagemeyer (9:50 a.m.) and Redl (10:00 a.m.) will begin their Monday round on Hole 10.
As the Lady Bison embark on the 220-mile trip to Columbus, they'll have time to make one more set of memories as the season comes to a close.