Faith Academy girls golf team finishes third at state tourney
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
KILLEEN — The Faith Academy girls golf team shot several personal bests en route to finishing third at the Class 2A State Tournament on April 29-30.
The Lady Flames shot a 406-413–819 and followed the advice of first-year coach Rick Blackington.
“This is the cool part,” he said. “We set goals for each girl. I said, ‘If you’re able to shoot personal bests and others do what I’ve seen, you have a shot at third or fourth.’ This is exactly how it panned out. They got third place, and you couldn’t ask for a better situation.”
Eight teams competed at the state tournament.
The district and regional tournaments were only one round. To help Faith prepare for two rounds, Blackington called for a practice the day after the district tournament in April.
“I wanted to simulate back-to-back experiences,” he said. “Mentally, you have to prepare for the ups for 36 holes.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com
RESULTS: 7, Taylor Denton, 90-88–178; Erika Soepel 99 (personal best)-103–202; Shelby Fairleigh 110-106 (personal best)–216; Calley Cozby, 107 (personal best)-122–229; Rachel Love, 132-116–248
NOTABLE: Fairleigh shot her personal best in back-to-back days, a 110 in the first round and a 106 in the second.
QUOTABLE: “Third place is a big deal. I’m just extremely proud of each of them. I really am. They’ve done so many great things this season,” coach Rick Blackington said.