Nacos helps different team to title

ANKENY - A Nacos on a winning state champion golf team is a sight many from Washington have seen.

But Wednesday at the Class 3A state championship it was a Nacos on Dubuque Wahlert's title-winning team.

Washington's Kiki Guo placed fourth, a stroke behind the third-place finisher, who was a famaliar name to Washington, Dubuque Wahlert's Anna Nacos.

Three-time Demon individual state champion and sister Sarah Nacos was in the gallery rooting for her sister and her old school. She currently plays for Bradley University.

'Seeing Anna was fun,” Guo said. 'It is always fun to see a familiar face. We are good friends so I wanted her to do great and she did. I know she wanted the same thing for me too.”

Guo and Nacos are both sophomores.

Washington's Josie Tanner, a sophomore, played in the same group as Nacos both days.

'We got to talk about old times and relive old memories,” Tanner said. 'There were a lot of laughs. It was fun. I told her we would still take her back. And we would definitely take her score.”

Seeing a former teammate competing against them had a different effect on Guo than Tanner.

'I was motivated to beat her because I like the competition,” Guo said.

'If I thought about trying to beat her, after the first hole, I wasn't worried about that,” Tanner said. 'I just had to worry about my own score.”

'It wasn't more motivating to try to beat a former teammate,” Nacos said. 'I use my energy to play against the course, not a person.”

This was the first tournament Nacos played that Washington was in.

'It was pretty interesting to me playing against them instead of with them,” Nacos said. 'I still want them to do well. I was glad I got to play with Josie. She is a good family friend so it was nice having someone I knew and to talk to the whole round. That made it a really relaxing round.”

Washington's only senior, Carly Burlingame, has spent a lot of time on the same team as the Nacos sisters.

'I ran into them at the hotel first, so it wasn't as awkward as seeing them on the course for the first time,” she said. 'It was cool to see them again and it's awesome that Anna is doing so well.”

Washington junior Emily Waite said, 'I loved seeing Sarah and Anna because they are still like a part of Washington to us.”