When the Compass Academy girls golf team reached its first UIL State Tournament last year, coach Jennifer Lopez referred to her squad as “the little team that could.”
The Lady Cougars gained valuable experience at the competition and booked their second trip by finishing second at the Region I-3A Tournament April 21 in Baird.
Lopez said seeing her team return to the tournament is a humbling experience that makes her feel like each golfer can do anything she set her mind to.
“That’s the way we run our practice and that’s the way we run our fall season, and spring season,” Lopez said. “I just keep telling them, ‘Don’t worry about the bad shots or the bad days because at the end of the day, everything is going to work out.’”
Compass Academy received some tough competition from Wall, who finished 41 shots in front of the Lady Cougars to win the regional championship.
Lopez anticipates their friendly rival to maintain its level of play at the Jimmy Clay Golf Course in Austin.
The Lady Cougars went through a practice round Sunday to get accustomed to the course’s grass and the area’s weather, working mainly on putts and chipping around the greens.
Like Compass Academy, the Wink girls golf team also secured a return trip to the Austin area by clinching a spot in the Class 2A tournament.
It’s the fourth time in program history that the Lady Wildcats have made it to the most important competition of the year.
“They are looking really good, they have improved a great deal in the last month and a lot since the [Region I-2A] Tournament,” coach Charlie Stodghill said. “Hopefully we have good things in store for us in Austin.”
Wink will compete at Lions Municipal Golf Course in Austin after placing second at regionals.
Stodghill feels comfortable with where his team is going into state, noting the improvement of each golfer through the year.
None of the Wink golfers on this year’s team have seen the course they’ll be competing on, so they’ll have to adjust quickly.
Marfa’s Alexis Gonzales will be the only area competitor representing Class 1A after securing a spot with a fourth-place finish at the Region II-1A Tournament.
Gonzales originally didn’t think she would qualify for state after shooting a 95 on the first day of regionals.
She bounced back with a strong second round and will look to replicate an impressive showing from fellow Marfa golfer Cristian Ontiveros, who finished second at the Class 1A boys tournament.
“He went to look at the course before and he was telling me about some of the things that I’ll see there,” Gonzales said. “He was letting me know that the greens are nice, it’s going to be smooth.
“It’s going to be a lot different from the course we played at for regionals, but it’ll be nice and I think it’ll ultimately be a pretty way to end the season.”
The Class 1A girls tournament will take place at Plum Creek Golf Course in Kyle.
A large portion of the area’s state qualifiers came from a dominant Region I-4A.
The Andrews girls maintained their winning culture with a first-place showing at regionals, while Seminole took third to secure a qualifying spot behind Argyle.
Seminole coach Mitch Shain said District 2-4A is one of the toughest in the state and it helped prepare his girls for the challenges they would see later in the year.
Shain told his golfers that if they made it through the district, they would have a good shot of getting through the regional tournament.
“Our girls, they just rose to the occasion,” Shain said. “We shot our lowest round of the year in the very first round at 316 and that was awesome to see.
“The girls responded real well to the pressure of the tournament.”
Andrews’ Emma Carrasco also qualified for state as an individual, alongside Madisyn Yanez of Monahans.
Yanez is making her return to the state tournament after qualifying with the Monahans girls team as a freshman.
The senior said it felt good to make it back to the competition, adding that it was one of her goals to return since the first trip.
Yanez has felt the support of her teammates from the moment she knew she would be advancing and is looking forward to playing on the Legends Golf Course in Kingsland.
“It’s definitely longer than any other course I’ve played,” Yanez said. “I’ve only played it twice this year and twice at all, really.
“It’s longer, it plays a little bit more difficult but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m excited to go play there, I love that course, it’s beautiful.”
The state tournaments begin Monday and conclude Tuesday for each classification.
>> Follow Chris Amaya on Twitter at @OA_CAmaya
