Divisional Golf Tourney

The Malta Golf Team participated in the Northern B Golf Divisional in Shelby last Monday. Sophomore Kloie Marks will see her first state tourney as an individual golfer.

Marks advanced to the state meet by posting a score of 114 and placing 14th individually.

"I'm really excited for her," Malta Head Coach Sean Estill said. "She has been right on the cusp of some breakthrough scores. This is her lowest of the season, so it was nice to see her peak at divisionals, at the right time."

She had 52 strokes in the front nine and 62 strokes in the back nine.

"It's a long day," Coach Estill said. "It's hot and it's a long 18 hole course. By the time they get through those first nine, they got a good workout. It takes really good focus to hold it together in that back nine. The heat and the day will get to people."

Marks will have a slight advantage over first time golfers at Marias Valley, having golfed at the venue numerous times in her first two seasons.

"It never hurts," Coach Estill said. "There are some pretty good golfers out there and any time you're a little bit more familiar with the course than they are it definitely helps."

Malta did not place any other golfer or any other team but Coach Estill is proud of how the team golfed despite the pressure of advancing.

"We have got a lot of young kids golfing at a divisional meet and they held together pretty well," Coach Estill said. "There was good consistent team golf today."

The M-ette golfers posted a team score of 493.

Individually, Reba Doucette had a score of 122, Chayana Stolem had a score of 125, Chloe Hunter had a score of 132 and Rya Soul had a score of 141.

The Mustang golfers had a team score of 491.

Individually, Grayson Waters led Malta with a score of 102. Miles Bunk was second with a score of 129. David Skiff and Ezra Judd both scored 130 and Jacob Czereda had a score of 172.

Though the season is over for the other golfers, the team will continue to practice this week, which may also help Marks on her journey to the State B Meet.

"We are going to invite the others to come and practice," Coach Estill said. "It will be nice to have other people around to push her in practice a little and it's nice to see the other kids on the course a little bit more."

Coach Estill plans to help Marks in the short game this week as the State Tourney is less than a week away.

"You can always work on the short game but we will sit down and analyze how she did and we will build a plan from there," Coach Estill said.