River View girls golf team hosts first all-girls tournament
Shelby Byland, team captain of the River View girls’ golf team, takes aim at the ball during the first River View Girls’ Golf Tournament held Friday, Aug. 10 at Hickory Flats.
WEST LAFAYETTE – River View girls’ golf team held its first all-girls golf tournament at Hickory Flats Golf Course on Friday, Aug. 10. Fifteen schools participated with most schools coming from the east girls’ golf district, but golfers came all the way from Sheridan and Minerva. A total of 80 golfers participated.
This is the third year that River View has had a girls’ golf team.
“Up until this point, the finances were held with the boys’ team,” said William Stufflebean, the team’s coach. “This year, we split off from the boys. The boys have their own boosters and the girls have their boosters.”
The tournament on Friday was a one-day, 18-hole tournament with first and second place teams awarded trophies and medals, and first and second individuals being awarded trophies. The trophies were sponsored by the boosters.
“This is going to be an annual event and part of what will continue the program at River View by raising interest in River View girls’ golf,” said Stufflebean. “Our season is going very good. River View won their first team tournament and placed second in the big division tournament yesterday.”
Stufflebean said the team has high hopes for this season.
“We are looking to better ourselves,” said Stufflebean. “We want to move out of the districts from last year and make a run at state. We’re not looking to go past sectionals and that’s our main focus. We’re building up for sectionals. The kids are playing well and all of them have improved immensely.”
The tournament on Friday replaced the pre-season tournament this year.
“Actually, we didn’t have a pre-season tournament this year and this replaces that for everyone,” said Stufflebean. “Our main goal is to give the area girl golfers a place to compete in a tournament setting.”
Shelby Byland is the team’s captain and has been with the golf program at River View for four years, playing on the boys’ team her first year.
“It’s been really exciting to watch this program grow with me and watch the team flourish and do well,” she said. “As a captain, that’s exciting for me to see the team doing well.”
Stufflebean said that he also has a great group of juniors on his team who are really the backbone of the team and keeps them going strong. Emma Anderson will be a junior this fall at River View and has been the most improved player two years in a row.
“I like to never stop improving,” she said. “If I know I can do better, I’ll be better than I was yesterday. In golf, I always know that I can be improving.”
Marie Stufflebean will also be a junior this year and has been with the golf program since day one.
“It helps me focus and I just generally enjoy doing it,” she said. “I hope it gets me into college.”
Her dad is also the coach and she wanted to thank him.
“Thank you for being willing to coach the team and make it so I have opportunities in the future,” she said.
She also had some advice for younger players.
“Don’t be afraid,” she said. “If you don’t start out well, there’s always room for improvement because it’s really rough at first.”
Kailyn Shalosky will be a junior as well and has grown up around the game of golf.
“My parents were very involved at Hilltop Golf Course,” she said. “They worked there a lot and I was constantly there with them. I think I was at the golf course more than I was at my house. I was always told that I could be one of the first girl golfers at River View so Marie [Stufflebean] and I tackled that together. It was really great that we could get one going for our first year of high school.”
Madalyn Cutshall made the decision to move to River View in part because they offered a girls’ golf team. She will be a sophomore this year.
“I like playing at River View because Bill [Stufflebean] has a lot of confidence in me that I can do well and succeed,” she said. “Everyone here is supportive of me being the youngest on the team and it’s been awesome.”
For junior Lindsey Ashcraft, Friday was the first golf tournament she has played in and her third time on the course.
“For never golfing before, it’s been a struggle,” she said. “But everyone has been helping me out. It’s been an experience. I’m just trying to stay positive and have fun with it.”
Stufflebean said that for the first tournament, everything went well and he learned a lot from the other coaches.
“I want to thank all area coaches for putting their teams in this tournament,” said Stufflebean. “It means a lot to have such a good turnout our first year.”
Team scores and place:
1- Garaway- 325
2- New Philadelphia- 343
3- Tusky Valley- 347
4- River View- 352
5- Beaver Local- 367
6- Ridgewood- 384
7- John Glenn- 410
8- Tri-Valley- 415
9- Minerva- 417
10- Indian Valley- 420
11- Sheridan – 422
12- Strasburg- 424
13- River Local- 439
14- Claymont- 479
15- Dover- 504
Individual results out of 85 players:
1- Jocelyn Troyer (Garaway) – 67
2- Jordan Vanmeter (Minerva)- 73
3- Marie Stufflebean (River View)-76
4- Chloe Crone (Dover)- 78
5- Leigh-Ann Williams (Garaway)- 79
T6-Emma Anderson (River View)- 80
T6-Hayley Philips (Beaver Local)- 80
T6-Sydney Clements (Tusky Valley)- 80
9- Sadie Wilson (Ridgewood)- 81
T10- Kayla Dyer (New Phila)- 84
T10- McKenna Kyler (Beaver Local)- 84
T12- Allie Jurkovic (New Phila)- 85
T12- Sierra Knowlton (River Local)- 85
T14- Helena Immel (Garaway)- 87
T14- Kiley Dyer (New Phila)- 87
T14- Sydney Devore (New Phila)- 87
T15- Lexi Zimmer (Ridgewood)- 88
T15- Susan Thompson (Tusky)- 88
19- Keegan Selinsky (Tusky)- 89
20- Olivia Galigher (Tusky)- 90
Scores contributed by Coach Stufflebean.
Category: High School, Sports
