Wildcats take second in home meet

Taking home a bronze and silver last week were the Custer High School girls golf team.
At the Sturgis Invite May 1, the Wildcats managed to get in nine holes of golf.
“It was, weather-wise, not a great day. It rained the whole time they were out there. The wind blew. It was not wonderful,” said head coach Haley Uphoff.
However, the Wildcats persisted and placed third with a combined score of 201.
Individually, Jordyn Uphoff placed 12th at 46, Shauna Zacher placed 15th at 49, Quinn Lewison placed 18th at 52, Julianna Uphoff placed 25th at 54 and Lyncoln Robb placed 40th at 64.
“The girls did a great job of persevering and keeping their heads up. They posted some pretty good scores, especially in those weather conditions. I was happy with the way everybody’s day turned out,” said  Coach Uphoff.
On May 5 the Pre-Region Custer Invite took place at Rocky Knolls Golf Course.
Once again, the weather threatened to cut this tournament short, but the rain held off until the final hole.
“One of the other coaches said, ‘I kind of hear thunder,’ and I was like, ‘Well, tell them to play fast.’ So we squeaked it in,” said Coach Uphoff.  “For just about everybody, the first couple of holes were not great. I told the girls, I think the hardest part of having a home meet is mentally you don’t have the drive to the course to get yourself prepared. We don’t have a driving range, which is different than most courses we play. Those things make playing at home a little bit harder. So those first couple of holes, I wasn’t really surprised.”
Nevertheless, everybody pulled out of it. Coach Uphoff said it would have been easy for the girls to think, “This started bad, so it’s going to be a bad day,” but that was not the case.
Overall, the Wildcats placed second with a team score of 387 behind St. Thomas More at 323.
Individually, Jo. Uphoff placed eighth at 94, Zacher placed ninth at 95, Lewison placed 12th at 98, Kayda Hanis placed 15th at 100, Ju. Uphoff placed 27th at 117 and Robb placed 30th at 119.
“I’m glad we had this pre-region tournament so they know what that feels like and can hopefully get themselves a little better mentally prepared to start when we have regions in a couple of weeks. But they all did a great job of pulling out of it, and everybody had some good scores that I was happy with at the end of the day,” said coach Uphoff.
During practice, the Wildcats are continuing to work on their short game. Coach Uphoff said putting is getting better, and they will continue to work on it, along with chipping, as the season goes on.
“It’s definitely the hardest part of the game, but I do still feel like our ball striking is doing well. That short game is what we’re focusing on,” said coach Uphoff.
The varsity Wildcats are passing on the Hot Springs tournament Thursday, May 8, since it is the last day of school for the seniors. However, coach Uphoff is using it as an opportunity for the middle school golfers to get in nine holes.
After that, the varsity girls will be back in action Monday, May 12, at the Black Hills Conference in Douglas.