Thayer wins playoff, Blue Valley North wins team title at 6A golf

As the rain and darkness began to fall, it was Mackenzie Thayer’s determination which shone through.

The Garden City senior golfer won a one-hole playoff to capture the Girls 6A individual championship at Shadow Glen Golf Club in Olathe on Monday.

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Thayer fired an 81 – including a tournament-best 39 on the back nine – to match Blue Valley North junior Natalie Curran and force a playoff.

“I didn’t think that 81 was going to take it,” Thayer said.  “I heard that there was another 81, so I knew I was going to be in a playoff, but I didn’t think it would be for first place.  Then I heard it would be just me and Natalie.  I just hit a few balls and got ready.”

Thayer’s win culminates an outstanding high school career and fulfilled a promise she made to herself.

“This was it,” Thayer said.  “I wrote a note to myself, in my yardage book, telling myself this was my last shot.  I didn’t want to blow it.  It’s a tough course, but you hope for that kind of course for a state championship.  The greens rolled awesome, but I really wish the weather was better.”

Thayer says her father – Sean Thayer, former KU golfer and Kansas amateur champion – is her golf hero.  She signed a letter of intent in November and will be going to KU next year, where she plans to continue her golf career.

“Golf is my life,” said Thayer, who is unable to play any other sports due to Klippel Trenaunay Weber syndrome (KTS), a leg condition which is also suffered by professional golfer Casey Martin.

“I feel so accomplished,” Thayer said.

“She’s not only a good golfer, but a quality kid, too,” Buffaloes Head Coach Lloyd Tiffany said.  “She does everything right on the golf course and she’s very respectful.  She’s won every tournament up until state and played tough.  The two Abbie’s (teammates Abbey Campbell, a junior, and sophomore Abbi Shaddix) pushed her.  The three of them made us a very strong team.”

Tiffany’s squad managed a second-place finish in team competition as the Blue Valley North Mustangs won the 6A team championship.

Shaddix shot a 93 while Campbell added a 97 and senior Anna Robinson rounded out the foursome with a 99 to give Garden City a 370 team score.  Both Shaddix and Campbell medaled, with Shaddix taking 13th and Campbell tying for 16th.

“It feels good,” Robinson said.  “It’s a good way to finish my senior year.  My front nine went well.  I hit good shots, made good contact.  I started the back nine well, but then I got a penalty stroke and carried on from there.  It’s a difficult course to play and difficult to walk.  It’s up there (among the toughest she’s played).  You really have to be confident in your game.”

Robinson will be going to Oklahoma State next year to study pre-medicine, with a goal of being a physician’s assistant.  A member of the National Honor Society, she has been active in student council, broadcasting and Spanish.

However, she is now done with golf.

“I’ve had a wonderful high-school career,” Robinson said.  “It’s definitely the best thing I’ve done.  I’ve had wonderful teammates and I wish them the best.  But I can officially say I’m done.  Now I can hit mulligans and have fun.”

Led by Curran and her sister, senior Stephanie Curran, Blue Valley finished at 349 for the team victory.

“The way the girls finished was pretty phenomenal,” Mustangs Head Coach Susan O’Dell said.  “Taking the EKL by five strokes over Aquinas – our first league title since ’06, we got on a little bit of a roll.”

Natalie Curran took second in individual competition while Stephanie finished in third place, a stroke behind the leaders.  BV North also had freshman Jean Tyrell place ninth with a 90 and Amber Norman take 15th with a 96.

“They’ve been one or two strokes apart every tournament the past month,” O’Dell said of the Curran sisters.  “They’ve been just outstanding.”

It was Blue Valley North’s third consecutive team golf championship.

“I can’t say it doesn’t feel good,” O’Dell said.  “But they had to work for it.  This was a golf course and a half.  It played tough.  It brought some kids to their knees.  We were kind of used to it.  We practice and play at country clubs, so we’ve had some experience on this kind of course.  That ended up helping us a bit, but mostly it was perseverance.  That’s what we wanted to see:  don’t give up.”

“We’ve had a chance the last two years,” Tiffany said.  “We took second last year and we toughened up our schedule this year.  We played in the Mo-Kan tournament and Blue Valley North beat us there, then we came back and beat them at Alvamar a week later.  Obviously, a lot of girls struggled today.  We didn’t do what we needed to do and they beat us again.”

The severe course elevation and damp, cold conditions gave a lot of girls problems.

“We’ve been playing pretty good all year on regular courses,” Hutchinson Head Coach Charlie Pierce said.  “Then the last couple of weeks we’ve struggled on these harder courses.  This is the hardest course these girls have played in their entire lives.  This is just way too much golf course.  The distance is fine, but there are continuous hazards, deep roughs, water everywhere and the greens are fast.  We tried to practice for it this week, but it didn’t help.  Then we come out here this morning and it’s wet and cold.  When it gets wet and cold, their daubers get down and once their daubers get down they stay down.”

Hutch was led by senior Kara Koepplin, who shot a 102 as the Blue Dragons finished 10th overall with a 469 team score.

“I did OK,” Koepplin said.  “I would have liked to have done better.  It’s a tough course so I’m OK with how I did.  I’d say it was the toughest (course) I’ve ever played.”

Koepplin dedicated herself to improving her game this past summer.

“This summer I tried to get out every day and play at least nine holes,” said Koepplin, an International Baccalaureate student who is also on the bowling team and has been a swimmer in addition to playing violin in the orchestra.  “We’ve got a chipping course and I worked on my short game.  That cut off a lot of strokes.  I had not been serious about golf until this summer.  I always liked it.  This summer I had more time to work on it.”

Derby Head Coach Tim Herrs credited junior Kelly Mason and senior Bridget Walston with his team’s success this year.

“Those two have the chance to do something in this tournament,” Herrs said.  “They’ve been making improvements, not taking it easy, and staying focused.  They’ve been consistent and they know their game and what they need to work on.  Kelly and Bridget keep it out of trouble and if they get into trouble they can get out and minimize the damage.”

“I felt like Rocky Balboa, climbing the steps,” Mason said.  “It’s so steep.  It was pretty frustrating.  It takes a lot just to get to the next hole, but I got through it.  It’s intimidating.  There are lots of hazards.  The troubles are more difficult for me, staying straight.  I’m not a conservative player.  I get stubborn and I just want to hit the ball.”

Herrs also described the course conditions as difficult.

“Obviously, (the course) is a lot more difficult than what we’re used to, but everybody is shooting a little higher than usual,” Herrs said.  “There’s so much trouble out there.  The rough is thick, the bunkers are deep, the greens are fast.”

Walston paced the Panthers with a 117 score as Derby combined for a 512 team mark and 11th overall.

Maize was led by sophomore Taelyn Entriken, who shot a 91 to place 10th overall.  The Eagles finished 8th with a 418 combined score.

Maize junior Maddie Scheer enjoyed the performance by her team this season.

“We had a really good season as a team, probably our best season ever,” Scheer said.  “Most of our tournaments we were first or second.  I’m really proud of my team.”

Scheer, who participates in student council and is also in the school choir, is a lifelong golfer.

“It’s a family thing,” Scheer explained.

Scheer also was satisfied with her own performance, despite the difficult course conditions.

“I wish I could have done better,” Scheer said. “It’s a really tough course, so I’m OK with it.  It’s most definitely the hardest course I’ve played.  We came out and played yesterday morning to get ready.  I have a friend who lives near here and she told me it was really, really steep.  I was driving the ball really well.  The greens are the worst.  They are hard to read and fast.  On number 18, I couldn’t get it on the green.  It was up and back down, up and back down.”

Shawnee Mission East took third with a 377 team score, while Olathe Northwest was fourth at 385.  Washburn Rural scored 388 for fifth place and Blue Valley West was sixth at 405.  Manhatten took seventh with a 410 mark, followed by Maize in eighth and Lawrence Free State at 446 for ninth.  Hutchinson was tenth, Derby eleventh, and Shawnee Mission South rounded out the scoring with a 515 combined mark for twelfth.