The Blair Oaks girls golf team was really good last season, finishing fifth at the Class 2 state championships.<\/p>\n
Only one of the Lady Falcons\u2019 top five golfers return this fall. That turnover could have been a big concern, but coach Kirby Keth already had a system in place to ensure newcomers to the varsity roster are ready to go when they open the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t not invest in your up-and-coming freshmen and sophomores,\u201d Keth said. \u201cYou have to invest in them because there\u2019s always going to be that transition, where you lose players and kids have to move up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t invest in them until they\u2019re there, well then it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blair Oaks\u2019 new-look roster takes the course Monday for the New Bloomfield Invitational at Meadow Lake Acres Country Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for us to compare ourselves to other schools,\u201d Keth said. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only three of Blair Oaks\u2019 12 golfers this season are upperclassmen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe freshmen of last year are going to be key contributors, and then we\u2019ve got a new group of freshmen that we\u2019re investing in, trying to make certain that they have the opportunity,\u201d Keth said.<\/p>\n
The Lady Falcons\u2019 leading returner is senior Addie Kekec, who tied for 33rd place at last year\u2019s state tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s our most-experienced player, so I need her to be that leader,\u201d Keth said. \u201cHer personality is such that she\u2019s comfortable with doing that. But she\u2019s going to be pushed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor Brooks, a junior, and Ashtyn Shaw, a sophomore, also had some varsity experience last year for the Lady Falcons.<\/p>\n
\u201cShaw played in several tournaments over the summer, that has been key,\u201d Keth said. \u201cTaylor Brooks has been around the game, she\u2019s now starting to show her game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophomores Norah Kerperin, Taylor Linhardt and Brooklyn McAleer all played JV last season for Blair Oaks.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorah Kerperin is coming along, she has been playing and practicing in that top-four group quite a bit,\u201d Keth said. \u201cTaylor spent a lot of time on the golf course this summer and has really improved her game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keth has been impressed with freshmen Kinley Lentz and McKenzie Martin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a level of competition that you see amongst each other,\u201d Keth said. \u201cThose who get that bug and really want to work toward that starting role, it\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rounding out Blair Oaks\u2019 roster is senior Kallie Wulff and freshmen Kinsley Hunt, Adrianna Kenkel and Addison Troesser.<\/p>\n
Keth said he will try to bring a JV team to as many tournaments as he can.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy bringing two teams last year, that gave those younger girls more of a chance to play in a competitive environment,\u201d Keth said. \u201cI\u2019ll always ask.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blair Oaks will host a quad Tuesday at Oak Hills Golf Center and will play other nine-hole events at Southern Boone and Versailles.<\/p>\n
The Lady Falcons will compete in multiple tournaments at Meadow Lake Acres, as well as at Marshall, California and Boonville.<\/p>\n
The Tri-County Conference Tournament is Sept. 29 at Lake of the Woods Golf Course in Columbia. Blair Oaks will see many of the conference teams throughout the season, including Eldon and California, who were state-qualifying teams last season.<\/p>\n
Eldon is the defending Class 2 state champion and California was fourth, just ahead of Blair Oaks for the last team trophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cEldon is always really strong, they probably have the best overall program,\u201d Keth said.<\/p>\n
Blair Oaks, as well as the other seven Tri-County Conference teams, have been assigned to Class 2 District 2<\/p>\n
With a senior-heavy lineup last season, Blair Oaks was strong from the start of last season to the very end.<\/p>\n
This season, Keth wants to see gradual improvement, with the hope of his players peaking by early October.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll get a good assessment right off the bat, then we\u2019ll step into some really good tournaments,\u201d Keth said. \u201c\u2026 As a golfer, you\u2019re always playing the course, not other teams or individuals. You have to play your game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we help our girls do what they\u2019re supposed to do, then they can compete. We\u2019re right there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Blair Oaks girls golf team was really good last season, finishing fifth at the Class 2 state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-830631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}