Going into Districts on Tuesday morning, the Hastings High girls golf team had high hopes of qualifying for state. They had been fighting for the third place spot and had been neck-and-neck with Northwest and Aurora all year. Despite their best efforts, the team’s score of 397 was unable to outshine York, Northwest and Seward at Districts, so they settled for a fourth place finish. Senior Natalie Brandt, the team’s number one golfer, made Hastings High proud with her fifth place individual finish and state qualification.
“I was a little disappointed with my performance. I did three practice rounds at Riverside (where Districts was) that were significantly better, and I know I was capable of placing a lot better than I did. I was tied with the first place finisher until the last three holes, but I got a little too wound up in my thoughts towards the end and that affected my performance,” Brandt said.
Although Brandt would’ve preferred to place higher and compete at state with her teammates, it is still a huge accomplishment to attend the state competition for the third consecutive year.
“I qualified with the team sophomore year, but last year I only qualified individually, and it wasn’t as fun of an atmosphere. For my senior year I was really hoping that the team would qualify with me, but nonetheless I’m very thankful for the opportunity,” Brandt said.
Junior Leah Krings and sophomore Anna Brant tied with a score of 101 strokes and were just one place away from state qualification.
“This was my first year out for golf, and I was just super excited to be playing at Districts. I was happy with my score, but when I saw I was only 2 strokes away from qualifying for state, I was pretty disappointed,” Krings said.
Rick Christy, who has been coaching golf for 6 years, was very pleased with the girls’ performance at districts.
“There have been some ups and downs this season. I was disappointed we didn’t qualify as a team for state, but all the girls improved so much, and they were invested the whole season, especially when it came time for districts; they all played their best rounds,” Christy said.
The state tournament is October 12 and 13 in Scottsbluff; Brandt will play 18 holes on both Monday and Tuesday.
“No matter what happens in Scottsbluff, I am just thankful to have gotten to play four amazing years of golf at Hastings High,” Brandt said.
