Season Preview: 6A Girls Golf

Shawnee Mission East girls golf finished off one of the most impressive runs in Kansas high school sports history last season with a runaway victory for its second straight Class 6A state championship and fourth top-two finish in four seasons under coach David Hanson. 
 
Seven players who spearheaded that run have graduated and the Lancers return only one of the state qualifiers from a season ago, the state runner-up in senior Tess Roman. 
 
That leaves the door open for 6A state runner-up for the team title, Blue Valley West. 
 
"We have high expectations after placing second last year," Blue Valley West coach Aaron Anderson said. "We have most of our people coming back. A couple seniors left, but we have a lot of young girls that have stepped up." 
 
Senior Julia Misemer will return with her eyes set on making history as only the second high school player in Kansas history to win four individual state championships. She will be the first in the biggest class after Jill Simpson of Columbus did so in Class 4A from 1992-95. 
 
Misemer will have plenty of backup with three other state qualifiers returning. Sophomore Mia Rodriguez will look to improve upon her already strong finish at state last year, tying for 15th with a score of 171. Juniors Jenny Kim and Claire Ducharme return as well. 
 
The only departing state qualifier was Lauren Hartman, who tied Ducharme's 198 to take 50th place. Kim took 37th with a score of 186. 
 
"It helps to have Misemer on your team," Anderson said. "She's the only senior, but we have got a lot of young girls who still have varsity experience, state experience. We definitely want to set our sights to try and win it all this year." 
 
It might help that the Jags will have two Misemers on the team this year. 
 
Freshman Aleah Misemer will join the team with a chance to earn a varsity spot. Julia's younger sister brings with her a similar life-long golf experience that should allow her a quick transition to high school golf competition. 
 
This platoon of experienced golfers mixed with just enough rising stars may put the team in position to allow the older Misemer to swing the final standings if she repeats her end-of-tournament heroics in 2020. 
 
Last year at state, Misemer and Roman were tied atop the leaderboard at 74 with four holes left to play. Misemer powered her way to a five-shot victory and a third state title thanks to three straight birdies on the final three holes. 
 
Misemer's furious finish had a minor impact on the final result as Roman and Shawnee Mission East took home the team title by 62 strokes. The Lancers put two other golfers in the top five with Hanna Robinett taking fourth at 156 and Hope Robinett tying for fifth at 161. Quincy Helper took 12th as her 168 landed her one stroke behind a three-way tie for ninth. Megan Stopperan rounded out the Lancers' scores with a 177 to tie for 23rd.  
 
Roman will be the only one of those five returning. Even though three more players graduated, Shawnee Mission East's cupboard is far from bare. 
 
"Coach (David) Hanson has done a great job with that program," Anderson said. "They always reload, they don't really rebuild. It will be a great challenge for us to see how we do against them." 
 
Part of that ability to remain in title contention every year comes from Hanson keeping the same goals no matter how youthful the roster may be. Hanson said the four goals for his players are always to succeed in the classroom, win a league title, win a regional title and then win a state title. 
 
"It's my job to get our girls in a position to succeed," Hanson said. 
 
Hanson said the main difference with coaching younger golfers is making sure they get enough opportunities early in the year to work on the shots he views as the best way to reduce scores: chipping, pitching and putting. 
 
As the season progresses, he plans to give his players more experience with situational golf experience, such as pressure putting. The Lancers will start the year with sophomores Maggie Leonard,  Sofia Wehner and Maren Adams and freshman Ingrid Blacketer making their high school varsity debuts. 
 
Hanson and Anderson both hope to get their younger players experience early in the season facing top teams. That is why Shawnee Mission East and Blue Valley West will play in a triangular with Washburn Rural on Aug. 31 at the Jayhawk Club in Lawrence. 
 
Washburn Rural is another perennial golf power in Class 6A. Senior Kaitlyn Crough will return after the two-time state medalist had her junior season cut short by a wrist injury she suffered prior to regionals. Junior Avery Scott will also return to the team following her three-way tie for ninth place at state last year. 
 
Lawrence Free State will return two top-10 golfers from a season ago. Junior Claire Berquiest shot a 165 to finish seventh while senior Addyson Meadows was one of the players who tied with Scott for ninth. 
 
Blue Valley West will get the opportunity to size up most of these challengers early in the season, but the Jaguars will do so without their top golfer. Misemer will not officially join the team until after Labor Day per KSHSAA's policy on competing in outside events during the school year. 
 
Anderson said he's not as concerned with the team's performance early on without Miesmer and her short absence will help some younger golfers get opportunities to improve. 
 
"I tell them, 'It's a process,'" Anderson said. "We don't want to be playing our best golf now. We want to be playing it when we head into regionals and head into state."