Lady Indians make clean sweep of awards
Sometimes in athletics, when expectations run high for a team in a given season, teams have difficulty in fulfilling those projections.
But that was not the case for the Hays HIgh School girls’ golf team as the Lady Indians swept through the five Western Athletic Conference in dominating fashion to claim their fourth consecutive conference title.
Additionally, the Lady Indians, who are under the guidance of 33-year-coach Mark Watts, garnered the top three places in the individual standings, led by senior and WAC Player of the Year Abbie Norris. Of the top six first-team selections, the Lady Indians had four selections.OToss in the second team all-WAC choices and add another two that completes the entire HHS squad making either first or second team this season. For icing on the cake, Watts was voted Coach of the Year.
It was just that kind of season for the Class 5A Lady Indians.
The group of seniors include Norris (71.5 points), runner-up Jaycee Oakley (64.0), third-place Evyn Cox (62.0) and sixth-place individual finisher Ashlynn Banker (45.5). Second team picks are Lily Garrison (45.5), who missed one tournament or might have finished higher, and Avery Augustine, 11th with 30.0 points.
Of the four WAC tournaments where 18 holes were completed, the Indians won by more than 40 strokes in three of those. The closest runner-up Garden City could come was 10 shots (355 to 365) at the Dodge City Invitational played at Mariah Hills Golf Course. The final tournament was reduced to nine holes in Great Bend due to lightning and pending hail and rain and still the Lady Indians won by 15 over the Lady Buffaloes.
“I told the girls before the season that as good as Katie (two-time WAC Player of the Year Katie Dinkel) was, that each of them would have to improve two to three strokes per tournament,” Watts said of his preseason pep talk. “They fulfilled that going into the WAC.”
The impressive aspect of this year’s sweep is that this group of seniors (Abbie Norris, Evyn Cox, Ashlynn Banker, Lily Garrison) has never lost a WAC tournament in its four seasons. Yes, that’s right – they’ve now won 20 consecutive conference tournaments.
“I’m certain it’s the first team to win four in a row and never to have lost,” Watts said, who began coaching in 1991. “They competed in every tournament and we had the type of team that any one of them could be the low score of the tournament.”
While Watts likes portions of the WAC format in which each team hosts a conference tournament, he does long for the opportunity to take his teams to more tournaments where the competition is much better.
“For us to be competitive beyond the WAC, we’ve got to see the other teams in Wichita and Eastern Kansas,” Watts said. “I’d like to see us consider using some other format, although I don’t have a definite one in mind.”
It goes without saying that the Lady Indians have had some outstanding players and teams, but Watts said this year’s edition is among his best because of the overall balance.
“They all have worked hard to improve their golf games,” Watts said of the group. It will be up to juniors Oakley and Augustine to carry the torch in 2024 and to bring along the younger players who comprised Watts’ JV squad.
In the four WAC tournaments, the Lady Indians only to count two scores of higher than 90 and both of those came on blustery conditions and high scores at Mariah Hills event early in the season. Norris averaged 77.75 in her four 18-hole events, Oakley was at 81.0, Cox came next at 85.5, Banker at 91.75 and Augustine at 97.25. Garrison’s three tournaments averaged at 86.3.
Norris keeps the beat going for Lady Indians’ POY award
Hays’ Norris continues Lady Indians POY streak of now having a player win four straight years. The last non-Hays High golfer to do so was Garden Cityi’s Alyssa McMillen in 2019 when she won two in a row. Hays’ Taleia McCrae won in 2020 before Dinkel captured her two straight.
The POY race the last two seasons has been razor-thin wins by Dinkel over Garden City’s Ryann Warren, now playing at Kansas Wesleyan University, by 1.5 and .5 points. The margin for Norris was the biggest since McCrae topped teammate Sophia Garrison in 2020 by nine points.
“In my freshman year, I remember the seniors just being great leaders and accepting us in, but also encouraging us and showing us how the program worked,” Norris said after learning of her POY Award. “I think we’re a close group because of the traveling we do. But we also hang out with each other and that helps in supporting each other.”
Norris said that when the season began with four returners from the Class 5A state fifth-place team and a runner-up in the 5A talented field in 2021, everyone knew they had a chance to be successful. The key, she said, was not to be overconfident.
“For me, the biggest improvement came in my short game,” Norris said. “Coach preaches that every day. But I also got a little stronger and got more distance and (club) speed. I was able to hit the ball more consistently, too.”
Norris said she will remember her round at Garden City’s Buffalo Dunes when she shot a 75 (3-over-par) for her lowest competitive round. With three holes left she was at even-par, only to bogey the final three but still easily won the tournament.
“One of the things that we’ve worked on a lot is being able to chip and putt on different greens,” Norris said. “Every course isn’t the same and we try to be more consistent.”
The Hays senior said she is just now beginning to look at colleges, but has yet to make any decisions. She hopes to find a school that combines golf with her intended academic pursuit of bio-medical diagnosis using technology.
“I like the technology, medical combination,” she said. “I’m looking at schools that mostly adapt to the academics I want. I’m just in the first stages of talking to Fort Hays State.
Girls Golf – Final Team Standings
1. Hays, 25; 2. Garden City, 20; 3. Dodge City, 15; T4. Liberal, Great Bend, 4.
(Teams Award Points at each conference tournament on 5-4-3-2-1 basis)
2023 All-Conference Golfers
| FIRST TEAM | YEAR | SCHOOL | POINTS | |
| 1 | Abbie Norris | Sr. | Hays | 71.5 |
| 2 | Jaycee Oakley | Jr. | Hays | 64.0 |
| 3 | Evyn Cox | Sr. | Hays | 62.0 |
| 4 | Jerika Lopez | Sr. | Garden City | 60.0 |
| 5 | Brooke Savolt | Fr. | Garden City | 47.0 |
| 6 | Ashlynn Banker | Sr. | Hays | 45.5 |
| SECOND TEAM | ||||
| 7 | Lily Garrison | Sr. | Hays | 44.5 |
| 8 | Ailynn Anderson | Fr. | Garden City | 43.5 |
| 9 | Payton Dunn | Sr. | Dodge City | 40.0 |
| 10 | Riley Kippes | Sr. | Dodge City | 30.5 |
| 11 | Avery Augustine, | Jr. | Hays | 30.0 |
| 12 | Natalie Unsworth | Sr. | Garden City | 12.5 |
WAC Player of the Year — Abbie Norris, Hays, Sr., 71.5 points.
WAC Coach of the Year — Mark Watts, Hays High Lady Indians.
