CALEDONIA — Avery Pool admits she wasn’t playing as good as she wanted to.
After starting 1-under through five holes at the Mississippi High School Activities Association Region 3 meet at Lion Hills Golf Course, Pool hit into the water a few times and risked losing a promising round.
But Pool didn’t waver. Listening to her recount her journey to a round of 87 and medalist honors on Monday, you can tell Pool has learned how to manage her emotions and not let her frustrations get to her.
Pool’s maturation is just one example of how far the Caledonia High School girls golf team has come from last season. Buoyed by Jensen Reed’s 99, Caledonia outdistanced West Point, New Hope, and Oxford to win the region title and advance to the state meet May 2-3 in Cleveland.
“I kept it to myself and I just tried to stay positive and think of the good things I was doing,” said Pool, who couldn’t help but smile when asked how she handled her frustrations.
Reed, who was sitting to Pool’s right, broke into an even bigger smile — a knowing grin — that said she knew her teammate wasn’t happy with her round. Still, both players persevered on a day they weren’t challenged in a one-two finish. Caledonia’s Claudia Garcia, who shot a 107, finished third overall, but a team counts only its top two totals toward its score.
West Point edged New Hope in a playoff to earn the region’s second berth in the state tournament. New Hope High’s Victoria Bradley, who shot a 121, advanced as an individual.
Pool said it has been pretty easy keeping a positive mind-set. She said she didn’t want to assume she was going to win entering her round, so she pushed herself to erase the memory of the team’s second-place finish at the region meet last season. Caledonia then finished sixth at the state meet.
This year, Pool, a sophomore, Reed, a junior, and Garcia, a sophomore, are shooting for a state championship.
“Last year was our first year as a team, so going into the second year we knew more of what to do and we have been more confident,” Pool said.
Pool said the confidence has helped the team make a “pretty big improvement.” Garcia and Reed compare the team’s growth to someone holding their arms out in front of them wider than shoulder width apart.
A year ago, Garcia said she just tried to go out and do her best. Since then, though, she said she has taken lessons and worked on her game. She said her driving is her biggest area of improvement. She said she changed her swing and is using her arms more to help eliminate a sway that affected her drives. As a result, Garcia’s play has contributed to Caledonia’s development.
“I am really proud of what we have done throughout the whole year,” Garcia said. “When we started practicing again, it was kind of shaky, but after practicing a lot we knew we could do it. We just had to do our best.”
Reed might be harder on herself than Pool. She said had problems topping the ball last year, but this year she, too, has went to the range a lot more and left the frustrations of 2015 behind her.
“Last year, I wouldn’t want to play nine holes because I would get mad after my score at the very end,” Reed said. “But this year we have been forced to play every day (by Caledonia coach Jason Forrester), so I guess playing every day has helped me get more confident in it.”
Reed laughs when she said she was “always pissed off” when she played last season. She takes pride in the fact that her score has counted toward the team’s total this season and she gives the “glory to God” that He has blessed her with the skill to play what can be a difficult and frustrating sport.
But the ability of Pool, Reed, and Garcia to stay positive and to put those negative thoughts out of their minds has helped them take the first step. With a little more than a week to practice, all three players are looking forward to the challenge of winning a state title.
“I hope we can get in the top three at the state meet,” Reed said. “I feel a lot more confident.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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