Marshfield’s girls golf team, headed for its third straight trip to the state tournament, includes top row, from left, Stephani Stalcup, Teka Steward, Brittany Gilmore and Liz Whinery, with coach Mindie Wilson. Not pictured is Hannah Smith. World Photo by John Gunther.
Marshfield senior Stephani Stalcup said she wanted to cry after finishing her first round at the Midwestern League district golf tournament this week.
“I was so worried,” she said after shooting an opening-round 103. “I was so disappointed.”
Stalcup thought her dreams of going to the state tournament for a third straight year were dashed.
Then she saw the scores of her teammates, including a 98 by Hannah Smith and a 99 by Brittany Gilmore.
“I thought, ‘Where did those scores come from?'” she said. “Immediately, I felt 10 times better.”
By the time Stalcup improved her score to a more respectable 96 on the second day and her teammates had another strong round, Marshfield had pulled off a stunning second-place finish and earned a trip to the state tournament for the third year in a row.
After finishing nearly every league tournament fourth, the Pirates are headed to Trysting Tree Golf Course in Corvallis for the Class 5A tournament Monday and Tuesday, a pleasant surprise for nearly everyone, including coach Mindie Wilson.
“I thought Mindie was going to cry,” Stalcup said.
Before the event, Stalcup had voiced confidence that the team could qualify for state.
“I knew all along our team had it in them,” she said. “District just showed that. Our team just pulled together as one.”
The biggest surprise in that success was Gilmore, a sophomore who, until shooting a 101 in a practice round the day before the district tournament, was more likely to be around 120.
“I didn't think I'd do that good at all,” Gilmore said. “I PRed three days in a row.”
Gilmore followed her 99 with a 97 on Tuesday to finish fourth in the final standings.
“I was really proud of her,” said Liz Whinery, a Marshfield junior. “She totally brought her score down.”
Teka Steward, the team's co-captain with Stalcup and the only other returning player from last year's state squad, said the team played its best at the right time.
“We did really good at districts,” she said. “We just focused on what we needed to do.”
While the Pirates were a surprising second at district, they don't have any aspirations of a trophy at state. But with juniors Whinery, Steward and Smith all expected to return next year, along with Gilmore, the squad is looking to the future.
“We're just going to try to do our best and try to improve,” Whinery said. “We're not worried about how we're going to place. We're just excited we're going.”
“Mainly, it's just good experience,” Steward said. “We're going to have fun.”
The comments below are from users of theworldlink.com and do not necessarily represent the views of The World or Lee Enterprises. Participation Guidelines
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Comment Policy
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
No deliberately false information.
No obscenity or racially offensive language.
No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
No information that invades another person's privacy.
No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.
Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Keeping up the with Jones's, or keeping up with the times? I haven't been following the OSU/UofO competitiveness for sometime, so please excuse my ignorance. From what I understand though, State colleges greatly depend on an outside source of income, ie sports to keep them in the black. Sports, whether it be football or competitive cheerleading, if it can bring in the $$ it stays. Popularity and success equates money. And really in the end, isn't that the bottom line?
John – I am disappointed in your blatant display of partiality here. I don’t remember reading your column about the Beavers envy when they followed the building of Oregon’s Moshofsky Center with an indoor practice facility of their own, or how OSU expanded Reser Stadium after Autzen was expanded. Are these actions envy? Or are they prudent business decisions to remain competitive with an instate rival?
Yhis is akin to UCLA announcing they will now have areal football team to compete with the University of Spoiled Children. The ducks are doing this to raise money. And look good to the Pac 10. OSU is the National Champion. Ducks take note!... We also kicked your a$$ in football!!!
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
- No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
- No deliberately false information.
- No obscenity or racially offensive language.
- No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
- No information that invades another person's privacy.
- No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Close Guidelines