Even as HC’s school year finishes its first full month, some of the teams are already finishing their seasons. Among these is the Golf team, which played its first tournament in July, and is already preparing for the regional tournament on September 24th (girls’) and 25th (boys’).
The coach of the HC Boys’ Golf team is Scott Nicholas. Although the team does not have the age it usually does, Nicholas remains proud of their performance, especially due to the improvement of the younger players, who will remain on the team and get even better.
“[The] golf team has exceeded expectations this year,” Nicholas said,”On performance, our top five to seven players have rotated in and out of the line up based on performance and the type of course we are going to play. We are a young team, and we don’t have any seniors in the top five to seven players. We have had big improvements in our freshman and sophomores this year and the good news is they will all be returning. Based on the improvements in our short games and course management, I feel next year we will be a top contender in our region.”
The coach of the HC Girls’ Golf team is Ryan Queenan. She has been coaching at HC for six years. She also feels that the team has been making progress this year, especially with their new members.
“They have been making progress,” Queenan said, “since the beginning of the year. We have some very young players and they have even made great progress since last year, but [the progress of the] girls from the beginning of this year to the end has been awesome.”
For the boys, Nicholas even considers this year’s team to be an improvement from the last, despite the fact that the previous team had older players who performed very well.
“We have improved from last year,” Nicholas said.” We had 3 seniors who were in our top five last year and we had a great season. Surprisingly, this year’s team has scored more all-state points and have moved up the rankings with underclassmen versus last year. Coach Kenyon and I are very proud of the improvement this season of all of our players.”
Not only have the teams improved, but they have results to show for it. According to Nicholas, the boys’ team has placed well at tournaments, both as a team and individually. In fact, this year’s team has put up some of the best results Nicholas has seen, and was able to place as one of the top teams in the state.
“We won the Flyer Classic,” Nicolas said,” with a team score of 299 at Juniper Hills in Frankfort, which is the lowest number posted by any team in my tenure as coach at HC. [This was] led by Carson Nicholas with a minus three (67), he tied for the win and got second in a playoff. We also finished second at the Shawn Garnett in Monticello with a 302 and all four of our counting scores were in the 70’s. We placed second in the FCPS Cup losing only to Frederick Douglass, and Carson Nicholas also tied for the win there and finished second after a 3 hole playoff. We finished third place in the Pikeville Invitational Tournament at Stonecrest in Prestonsburg and have several top six finishes for the season. Carson Nicholas also scored enough points to be 11th on the All-State points list and was in the top 21 individuals that got to compete at the All-State tournament at Big Blue. The team finished on the All-State points list at 28th out of 187 schools on the list. We have also had big improvements with Charlie Bonilla, Jonah Trimble, Jacob Santos Lopez, Cade Chapman, Max Thayer and Genki Torihara.”
The girls team has performed well this year too, placing well at many tournaments both as a team and individually.
“We finished third place,” Queenan said, “at the Fayette County Cup, and we had some good finishes as a team throughout the year. Kylah Lunsford finished first overall in the Fayette County Cup, and she tied for sixth in the Region nine Championship.”
Although coming to a close, the season has not yet ended for the golf team. The boys’ team still has a few tournaments left on their schedule, which will be the most important of the year.
“We have the Region nine Tournament Wednesday September 25th,” Nicholas said, “at Gibson Bay. How we finish both as a team and individually will determine if we get to compete at Eagles Nest next Monday the 30th at Semi-State. The results there will determine the field for the State Tournament at Bowling Green Country Club the following week. I believe we will be in the top five scores as a team at Regions, but only the top two teams make it to Semi State.”
The boys placed 10th at the Region nine Championship, and Carson Nicholas tied for fifth individually, qualifying for the Semi-State tournament.
The girls’ team schedule has ended, but Queenan is proud of their season, as well as optimistic about their top player’s upcoming individual performance.
“We placed seventh overall in the Region nine Championship,” Queenan said, “which was great. Next up, Kylah Lunsford plays on Tuesday, October first in the first round of the State Tournament. If she qualifies out of there, she will play in the final round of the State Tournament, which is in Bowling Green on October 10th-12th.
As the season nears its end, both teams have a lot to look forward to, as they both have many great young players who will continue to develop and improve. Beyond this, interest is increasing in golf as a whole, so Henry Clay’s teams should be optimistic for what the future holds. Nicholas especially expects interest to continue to grow and for players to continue to play and improve.
“The interest in golf is definitely growing,” Nicholas said, “and we currently have 24 players on the roster. We have maxed out our schedule playing in 20 allowed events by the KHSAA as well as lots of Battle of the Lake matches. I expect to continue to develop the individuals and the team and we should be in contention next year at Regions and should also contend for a team bid into the All-State tournament. We have a deep roster and lots of players that can step up at any time and fill a top five role. I am excited to see what we are able to achieve next season.”
On the other hand, Queenan has seen a drop in interest in the team. However, she remains optimistic that recent recruitment efforts will bring more players in the future, especially since the team has recently been bringing in more new players who will be able to learn to play at HC.
“Overall, there’s been a decline in girls’ golf,” Queenan said, “but the girls that I have right now have been recruiting some more girls to get involved. So I think within the next few years we’ll see another rise in girls’ golf. We have seen more girls who have not played previously. Usually, we have girls who have played for their whole life, but in the last few years we have seen girls that have never played before want to come play and learn to love the game of golf in their freshman or sophomore year, and you typically don’t see that.”
