Joplin girls golf has plenty of experience back from a year ago with a new head coach to give the Eagles high hopes for the upcoming 2023 season.
“I am very excited about the upcoming season,” said first-year coach Brad Cox, who is also the head coach for the Joplin girls basketball team. “Our girls have put in a lot of work in the summer and are getting better everyday.”
The Eagles returning varsity members are highlighted by seniors Drew Yockey, Kenna Haley and Chloe Friend, who all had extensive action last season.
“I think our girls will have a good year, led by our seniors with their experience,” Cox said when asked about the outlook of his team. “I am excited for them and can’t wait to see them compete.”
Also returning with varsity experience is senior Macy Taylor, juniors Gwen Zamanzadeh and Emma McGill as well as sophomore Scarlet Satterlee and Ava Benedict.
Aside from the experience factor of the senior class, another brightspot for Joplin girls golf is the interest.
The Eagles had more than a dozen girls try out for the team, a rise in interest from years past. With those kinds of numbers, it’s obvious Coach Cox is already having an impact on the roster.
New to the roster this year is sophomore Sarah Falkensten as well as freshmen Reid Stanley, Ava Horton, Ava Hogan and Emery Obermiller.
“The strength of our program will be our senior leadership,” Cox added. “We have worked very hard to add consistency to our game. …Will will need to be comfortable in situations and make adjustments within a round to make sure we are able to compete at the highest level.”
Joplin’s biggest strength was playing as a team last year. Coach Cox knows they will need to continue that this year in order to reach the successes they have set out for themselves. To do that, the upperclassmen will need to play as consistently as possible to set an example for the underclassmen.
“The keys for our success will be maintaining consistency with our golfing,” Cox said. “It will also be very important to continue to build our younger players to continue to grow our program.”
Joplin opens the season at the Lamar Invitational on Aug. 29.
