METTER, Ga. - The Lake Oconee Academy girls’ golf team walked off the 18th green of the GHSA Class A-Public State Championship match victorious for the second consecutive season.
After winning last year’s trophy, the Lady Titans were able to grind their way back to Candler County, which is where this season’s state match was held.
Senior and Butler University commit Kelli Scheck shot an 81 on the first day and a 75 on the second to combine for a total score of 156. That score was good enough to earn Scheck low medalist honors for Class A-Public as well.
Teammate and basketball state champion Georgia Bosart also played well, shooting a two-day score of 162.
Bosart was accompanied by Maddox Cantrell from the boys’ team and teammate Willa Kent as the first student-athletes to ever win two state championships in a year at Lake Oconee Academy.
Rylee Oyler also contributed to the team’s winning round with daily scores ranging in the mid-90s.
Lady Titans’ head coach Ed Wilson couldn’t speak enough on how well his girls performed on the biggest stage.
“They were a pretty special group, and they had been there before,” Wilson said. “Generally speaking, these girls know how talented they are, and they proved it again.”
After tallying up the top two scores, the Lady Titans finished the weekend with a total of 318, which was 19 strokes lower than runner-up Drew Charter’s and double what third place Portal High School scored.
One of the most important aspects of the Lady Titans’ team was their ability to drown out the noise.
Wilson acknowledged how tough it is to keep your composure when the tournament crowd is bigger than a normal match.
“They stayed pretty cool, to be honest,” Wilson said. “They never showed a lot of nerves, and when you’re teeing off on Hole 1 and bomb a drive down the fairway, which all four did, it lifts a weight off your shoulders.”
The dominance Lake Oconee Academy showed this past season has the potential to continue into next year. With Scheck being the only graduating senior, the Lady Titans return three of their four golfers along with the addition of a couple eighth graders.
Regardless, Wilson acknowledged that he didn’t really have to do much because of how special this group was.
“I was there to help keep them positive after bad holes because that’s a big problem in high school golf,” Wilson said. “I was just blown away by how much composure they had. That’s not a trait many people have today.”