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Wapak backed by solid coaching |
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Monday, 25 August 2008 |
By PHIL McLEAN
Staff Writer
Dawn West has been varsity girls' golf coach at Wapakoneta for all three of the years the Redskins have fielded a golf team — and already she finds herself in a postion that coaches historically do not like to be.
Last year, West watched her top five varsity golfers graduate, including Becca Borges who took a 49.6 9-hole average and school records for 9- and 18-hole averages with her when she went to Capital University in Columbus. Also in that graduating class was Jenna Steveley who went to Ohio Northern University who owned the school record for 9-hole low score with a 41 set during the 2007 season. In all, six seniors said goodbye to the fledgling program.
And just when the coach was recovering from losing her team to graduation, the state of Ohio changed the rules.
Earlier this year the Ohio High School Athletic Association divided the state’s girls golf teams into two divisions. That will help smaller schools who have had to play the big city squads, but for Wapakoneta, now the lone Division I school in the area, it will likely make things more difficult.
In its first year, Wapakoneta finished with an 8-11 record and last year the Redskins were 13-5 against the likes of Bellefontaine, Lincolnview, Greenville, Celina and Parkway, among others. All of those teams will now be in Division II.
"We had 30 girls over the cutoff,” West said.
But the coach is thinking only postive thoughts about this year’s squad and schedule.
She welcomes back Kristina Kessen, a sophomore with an average of 51.7, and Janelle Allen, a junior averaging 56.2, who are slated for service as the No. 1 and No. 2 golfers on the team. Both are returning varsity letter winners from last year.
Katy Keckler, Kelsey Anthony and Morgan Adkins should hold down the next three spots, while Audrey Fisher and Jessica Sawmiller battle for the sixth spot on the squad.
Anthony, a senior, has been tapped as team captain, and is one of five seniors on the team, along with Fisher, Sawmiller, Hillary Kinstle and Kaia Pyles, with the later two who came out for the first time this year. Adkins, a junior, is also a newcomer this year.
“One of our team goals last year, was to shoot under 200,” West said. “We accomplished that in the last match of the season.” She said she is already seeing improvement this year. "This year the squad did it the fifth match of the season.”
As of yet, varsity girls golf is not a Western Buckeye League recognized sport. To be considered a league sport, at least seven schools must field a team. Currently five schools sport varsity girls golf squads. Bath girls just hit the links this year.
West said the girls would like to beat all the league opponents this year, but as far as picking a team to beat this year, “no one stands out.”
There are no major changes in this year’s schedule, with the Redskins playing most of the teams they played the first two years. So far the girls have spent time traveling. The first home game will be Wednesday, when Wapakoneta hosts Lima Central Catholic. The big change this year will occur Sept. 30, when the girls enter sectional tournament play. They will travel to Toledo to play at Detwiler Golf Course.
“That can be good and bad,” West said. “It’s good because the girls have no preconceived notions about the teams we will face.”
The down side is that the teams in the Division I sectional will feel right at home for the tournament.
West, who is orginally from Iowa, brougth a wealth of experience with her when she took control of the Redskin golf program.
“I’ve played golf since I was nine,” West said. “I played for the University of Missouri.”
Following her college career, she turned pro, and it was then that she met her husband, Wapakoneta chiropractor Eric West. She was playing the Futures Tour and came through Lima. She had been hurt and asked the pro at the Lost Creek Country Club who she should see. He directed her to Eric West, and the rest, as they say, is history.
After her career as a professional golfer was over, she started teaching.
When the decision was made to field a girls golf team at Wapakoneta, she applied.
“I was a little bit nervous,” West said. “I knew I could teach, but I wasn’t sure I could coach. I think those are two different things. They go hand-in-hand, but they are two different things.”
If the last two years are any indication, West is not only a good teacher, but a good coach as well. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 26 August 2008 )
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