By RYAN WALKER
WARREN — Southern Wells’ golf team celebrated an undefeated conference regular season Tuesday night.
The Raiders finished the Allen County Athletic Conference regular season undefeated with a 209-224 final score over Jay County at Dogwood Glenn. Their overall match record for the year was 13-1.
The team also celebrated Callie Ripperger and Collena Reeves, the team’s two seniors with gifts and a cake after the match.
Ripperger led the way with an impressive score of 42, earning the medalist honors. She was followed by Collena Reeves at (54), Kolbie Beavans (55) and Erika Beavans (58).
The Raiders’ accomplishments this season is something to be proud of. Going out for six matches and not losing a single one in the ACAC. But the conference doesn’t recognize the regular season champion, or else a plaque would have had a slice of cake after the match.
Instead, the ACAC just honors the meet champion, in which Bluffton won first, South Adams second and Southern Wells third.
“To go head to head with your conference opponents and go undefeated — some home, some away — that’s six different rounds that we had to play well and win,” Southern Wells head coach Ross Palmer said. “So it’s kind of unfortunate that it’s not recognized as a championship, like a regular season championship, but it’s a huge accomplishment for our girls, and I think they take a lot of pride in that as well. I know I do.”
Saturday’s conference meet had its challenges, where one of the Raiders’ best golfers had a 103-degree fever during the course of 18 holes. Palmer said if she had golfed her average, the Raiders might have had the hardware coming back to Poneto.
Another crack at the postseason will come shortly, as the sectional next Saturday is just days away at Arbor Trace. Palmer expects six schools to compete for the three spots necessary to advance to the regional, Bluffton being one of them.
Palmer’s golf program has been on fire lately, winning the 2022 ACAC and sectional meets along with this year’s unbeaten conference record.
The 2022 class graduated four of its five starters, leaving only Ripperger from varsity and Kolbie Beavans, who played junior varsity that season. There was a learning curve, as Southern Wells dropped from first to sixth in the conference at the ACAC meet last year. But one season later, the team scraped 65 strokes off their game and got back on the map.
Part of it was due to the fact that Palmer had new golfers to the team, including Reeves who was a late addition to last year’s squad. A few freshmen, Sophie Meeks and Erika Beavams, have also gained a year’s worth of experience.
Palmer said that the team has vastly improved in understanding the game of golf and learning the twists and turns of it, including the mental standpoint. Learning how to navigate nine to 18 holes and have a good day are crucial to success at this level.
All of their hard work for the five members has been worth it for a tightly-knit group that loves to play with one another.
“It’s been a really exciting season for us,” Palmer said. “We had some growing pains last year with some new girls that hadn’t played in a varsity role yet, and I got that whole team back this year, and it’s really shown their growth and experience over these last two years. We’ve had a lot of success this year, and it’s been a lot of fun being a part of it.”
The Raiders’ next chance on Saturday for glory will start at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 21.
ryan@news-banner.com
