ANDERSON — Once the final team scores were posted and the school’s name was officially announced, the celebration began.
Faced with less than ideal weather conditions on Saturday during the Lapel Regional at Edgewood Golf Club in Anderson, the Greenfield-Central girls golf team persevered — together.
All they had to do was stay calm, cool and if need be, look down at their right wrists in a pinch.
"We talked about being in the zone and not really talking to anyone while we were out there. All of us wrote something on our wrists, and I’m not going to say what it said, it’s kind of an inside joke," Greenfield-Central senior Caroline Gibson laughed.
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"But, whenever we needed to, we would just look at that and remind ourselves we came to play. It was a be-locked-in kind of thing."
The Cougars zeroed in on the future while revisiting the past, shooting a 345 to finish third at the regional, which earned them a team qualification into this Friday’s IHSAA state finals at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel.
Gibson, an individual state qualifier last year, shot a team-leading 76 — just four strokes more than her personal best 72 at Edgewood — and seniors Haley Hoagland and Tandess O’Neal carded a 91 and 90, respectively to turn back the calendar.
The Greenfield-Central Cougars haven’t competed at the state finals as a team since 1994, marking the program’s 10th team appearance in the past 47 years.
"My mom (Heather Wooten) was a senior that year, and she golfed. And, I’m a senior, so I’m following in her footsteps, I guess," O’Neal said. "She went to state her senior year, and I’m going to state my senior year. That was the last time the girls golf team made it to state, so it’s kind of funny."
The smiles and laughter overflowed after what could have been a disastrous day for the Cougars with cold and wet conditions impacting the greens early on and steady wind gusts making the final nine holes even more grueling that usual.
"The conditions were the wild card today. This has been a little more than a little breezy. I think it was in the 60s until about 2 o’clock. It was just chilly," G-C head coach Russ Wiley said. "We practiced (Friday night), and it wasn’t humid, no wind; some of the holes we were playing today were a little different. I’m so proud of them for sticking through it."
Each golfer faced their own individual setbacks throughout, even sophomore Syndie Wherry, though her personal-best 88 would tell a different story.
Gibson struggled on the 11th and 12th holes with a pair of double-bogeys, but her putting helped her card a 34 on the front nine before finishing with a 42 on the back.
Hoagland nearly gave Wiley a heart attack during a few trying holes on 17 and 18 and the leaderboard growing ever so tighter, he joked just before the team dosed him in water shortly after taking a team photo.
"I’ll take it," Wiley laughed at the water running down his back. "It’s the first time I showered in days."
Hoagland, like Gibson, kept her composure, shooting a 41 on the front and a 50 on the back to say in the low 90s. O’Neal, however, had the most taunting uphill task.
After a 48 on the front, O’Neal opened the back with three straight bogeys through the 12th hole.
"I had a rough beginning 12 holes. I had a couple good ones here and there, but the wind was so bad today. Wiley is who helped. We slowed my swing down, taking it back, and I could hit through it. Honestly, it helped me a lot," O’Neal said. "I stayed calm, and I stayed slow, and it helped me get through the ball better and finish strong."
Wherry, Gibson and O’Neal all shot 42 on the back nine, which kept the Cougars ahead of Richmond, which finished fourth with a 351.
The Cougars had no illusions of toppling Noblesville, which won the regional with a 314, or runner-up Hamilton Southeastern (324). Their ticket to state was third-place and, in a way, revenge.
"This shows how far we’ve come as a team, working hard, knowing it takes work to be good," Gibson said. "Batesville beat us at the beginning of the year at Greensburg. Lapel beat us. It’s a matter of knowing we could do it."
Batesville beat Greenfield-Central 359-363 during the Greensburg Invitational in August.
Lapel and Franklin County also had the Cougars number with wins earlier this season. The Cougars tied Heritage Christian during the New Palestine Invitational last month, which Greenfield-Central won in a tiebreaker with a 351.
Not this time.
"We sat down and we said, this is our goal. We wanted to make it as a team, but this doesn’t mean anything until it happens, and it happened," Gibson said. "Yeah, this is what goals are for."
Team chemistry fuels it all, and the Cougars relied on one another as the scores were still undecided. Hoagland, Gibson and O’Neal have competed together since the seventh grade, minus freshman year when O’Neal took a short one-year hiatus.
Led by the senior trio, the Cougars won the Hancock County team title, added the Hoosier Heritage Conference championship to their 2020 accomplishment list and repeated at sectional on their home course of Hawk’s Tail of Greenfield with at school-record 344.
Now, they’re doing something that hasn’t been done in their lifetime — literally.
"Oh my gosh, to go as a team, going by yourself is kind of boring, having people there with you, it’s so fun. I can’t wait," Gibson said. "To be part of that. It’s something else."
The bus ride to Hamilton County on Friday will be one of many highlights the Cougars are eagerly awaiting.
"It’s going to be a blast. Skipping school, I can’t wait. We’ll make sure to take the speaker," Gibson laughed.
"It’s crazy. Coming into it, we really wanted it. We knew this year was our best year we could potentially do it," O’Neal added. "We just wanted to play our best golf and do the best we could, and now it’s real. It’s exciting."
As for the team playlist for Friday’s trip, that, like their team-bonding words of wrist wisdom, remains confidential.
"It’s going to be hyped. I’m sure Caroline is going to bring a speaker, and we’re going to be listening to some hype music to get us pumped up," O’Neal said. "It’s a big deal. We did what we needed to do to make it there. Now, we can just go out and have fun and play our best golf."
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Lapel Girls Golf Regional
Team Scores: Noblesville 314, Hamilton Southeastern 324, Greenfield-Central 345, Richmond 351, Heritage Christian 353, Lapel 356, Batesville 363, Franklin County 366, Mt. Vernon 375, Muncie Central 380, Cathedral 382, Yorktown 383, North Central 385, Delta 391, Hagerstown 405, Greensburg 409, New Palestine 410, East Central 457.
Medalist: Macy Beeson, Lapel (73)
Individuals Advancing Without a Team: Macy Beeson, Lapel (73), Emma Weler, Batesville (75), Teddi Ishopo, Muncie Central (79), Lilly McVay, Fishers (79), Maura Gilfory, Greenwood (80).
# Top-three teams advance to IHSAA State Finals
Individual Scores
Greenfield-Central: Caroline Gibson 76, Haley Hoagland 91, Tandess O’Neal 90, Sydnie Wherry 88, Katie Curry (WD).
Mt. Vernon: Alaina Nugent 81, Meredith Johnson 91, Mackenzie Miner 102, Emily Rollo 101, Haidyn Cauldwell 147.
New Palestine: Megan Diller 99, Zoe Nelson 104, Abby Belgin 109, Michaela Purnell 98, Hannah Beller 113.
Eastern Hancock: Haleigh Cavaletto 88.
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