Washington girls golf team ready for state meet

It?s the third-straight time the Washington girls are making an appearance in the state golf tournament and everyone taking part is prepared.

At the start of the year coach Leonard Kull didn?t want to get overconfident about making it this far.

?Being able to go is just a reward for their hard work,? Kull says. ?That?s the way we look at it. Everything worked out well for them this year.?

At the start of the season, the entire team was focused on the present, not at the end.

?We don?t go and put all our eggs in one basket by saying we want to get to the state tournament and have a successful year,? Kull says.

?Our philosophy is to get better every day and all the other will take care of itself. I feel that?s the proper way to look at it.

?When we started the year, we had a very, very inexperienced squad. We only had two players that really had their score count most of the time, Megan Strabala and Sarah Nacos.

?The other two had been on the squad and every once in a while their score would count.

?They were our five and six girls. So they had to move up and the other two that came out took their place.

?Carly Burlingame?s and Allison Vogel?s jobs last year was to learn the game and just improve without a lot of pressure on them. That?s exactly  this year?s two freshmen?s assignment.

?I will give them all credit. They?ve done the best job I could ever ask. They improved and asked questions along with keeping on trying.

?While we had a lot of really good golf out of Megan and Sarah, you need four, and I will give all those girls credit for working their fannies off and trying as hard as they can.?

Kull says the state course won?t be easy.

?The course itself is challenging,? he says. ?We found that out today during practice. It?s an old-time course that has big trees, big greens and undulating hills.

?The girls will have to pay attention to what they?re doing in order to do well.

?If you look at the scores submitted for the eight teams there, we are about in the middle, which is a good place to be.

?I think we deserved it and what happens in the next couple of days will be a reflection on how well they?re able to compose themselves and produce under pressure.?

Speaking of pressure, will there be the same amount that the girls faced Monday in Waterloo?

?I don?t think there will be as much as what we saw because we?re at state now. It?s not a case of whether you?re going to go or not.

?I don?t consider it to be as much pressure, but we?ll find out about the girls when we get there.?

Kull believes the meet at Waukee earlier in the season helped the girls get ready for where they are now.

?I can?t help but think it would,? he says, ?because right after that particular meet, our scores dropped exponentially.

?We dropped about 20 strokes as a team. We were playing about 380 and went to 360.

?We have gone back up to 380, but I think that was a function of the course. It was a very tough course with tough conditions.

?It?s no question that meet was the turning point of our season. I?m glad I scheduled that particular one. We took our lumps because there were some very fine teams there.

?As a matter of fact, three of the 5A teams we beat actually qualified for the state tournament.

?That has to be nothing but an indication of how hard these girls played.?

One thing that?s out of the team?s control is the weather, but they know how to overcome it, Kull says.

?We always say this: ?the weather is mind over matter. If you don?t mind it, it doesn?t matter.?

?I?ve never heard any of our girls complain about the weather, being uncomfortable and not doing something.

?They persevere. That?s just the mindset they have which is definitely to their advantage.?

For Kull as a coach, he?s also ready.

?I just take things as they come. I don?t get up and down. I want to be a role model to them. If they have a bad shot, I don?t want them to get down in the dumps and conversely, I don?t want them to get so excited they don?t pay attention to what they?re doing.

?We try to keep an even keel throughout the whole tournament. When we?re done, we will see how it turns out, then we can be happy.?

The girls will play in the state golf tournament at the Elmwood Country Club in Marshalltown Tuesday and Wednesday, May 30 and 31.