UHS golf seeks leadership
It's the age-old adage in school sports. You build through experience and typically, lead with your veterans. Then, after graduation takes a key class out of the program, you start again.
That's the case for Uniontown's golf team.
Head coach Jason Tourtillott, no stranger to the process entering his seventh year, had a state qualifying team but graduated four seniors that were key to the season.
"Our returning girls will have to step and they have some big shoes to fill. Our strength is that these girls love the game and want to get better. Our biggest weakness will be that we're going to be young.
"To have a good season as a team, we are going to need some of our new girls to come through and give us some good outings to help with our team score."
The Eagles do have several returning members from a year ago -- sophomore Kaylyn Crystal, junior Draven George, and sophomore KaitLynn Sampson.
"They saw some varsity meets but mainly played JV for us. This year they are going to have to be our leaders and we're going to depend on them a lot more."
Other team members are junior Kyley Brown, freshman Laryn Thompson, freshman Tori Reed and freshman Bryleigh Ross.
"It always seems like our toughest competition in our region is usually Caney and Eureka," said the coach. "So I doubt it will be any different. Both of those programs have junior programs so they get the girls a few years sooner, which is a help.
"Throughout the season we will play with all the 4A schools in the area and they always have some good girls that will be tough to compete with. But we like the challenge."
The season begins Tuesday at Fort Scott's tournament