State Bound

As soon as Cal jumped down from the bus after the last day of the NLC tournament we were off and running for Cobblestone golf course in Kendallville to watch the girls golf regional.  Cal didn't have his best day at the NLC and was ready to do something else after sitting at tennis all morning and a good part of the afternoon.  My Dad had headed over before us and from the texts we got from him and Beckie we knew that we would still have time to see the girls finish.  Cal has several friends on the team plus Jeffrey's the manager and Coverstone is the girls coach as well.

Cal headed out before me to see if he could find the girls.  I waited around the clubhouse to check out scores and orientate myself with the field.  By the time I walked down to Wawasee's finishing hole I could spot my Dad and Cal.  Wawasee's number two golfer was on the green and I realized that she had just four putted.  I felt bad as the girls had played very well on the first nine and I hoped that her putts wouldn't change that.  My Dad walked up and said, "Did you see that?"  It was at that moment  I realized that it was so much worse, not only had she four putted, but she also took three shots to get out of the heather and finished with a nine on the hole.  A par would have given her a 78.  An 83 isn't bad, but as I watcher tears stream down her face at the scorers table I felt sick.

Dad had to leave for a birthday party, so I stuck around with Cal to see how everything would finish out.  I had this awful feeling as I remembered how terrible fourth place felt to the boys last May.  With six teams left to come in the girls were in second place.  It seemed unlikely they would make it to state, but we all remained hopeful.  None of really knew what to say, but we made small talk as we hovered around the scoreboard.  After the next three teams came in Wawasee fell to third.  With Northwood one of the three remaining teams hopes started to fade.  Then a couple of the sophomores started to squeal and hug each other.  There was a rumor going around that the Panthers finished at 343 two shots off of third place and that they beat both of the two teams in their group.  No one would believe it until the scores would posted.  We waited and waited as the man with the marker took forever to tally the results.  Pretty soon, however, there was a cheer from the girls, lots of hugs, screams and photos.  It was exciting to watch.

As we waited for the girls to get their packets everyone talked at once.  The girls were so happy as were their spectators.  Cal made plans to go with the Moores to state next weekend and he and Gage took the opportunity to mock the girls photos and get one of their own hugging.  As Cal and I drove home I thought a lot about how life comes full circle.  Beckie and I were on the team that finished sixth in the state almost thirty years ago.  Who would have ever thought that our boys would be watching their friends qualify for the first time since those days so long ago?  It was amazing to be a part of it then and awesome to watch it today.