El Campo's golf teams swinging for success
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

L-N Photo by Kris Bagley Follow Through Jordan McClain keeps the ball in sight as he practices his chip shots. McClain is one of the leaders on the boys golf team.

Over the next two weeks, area golf teams will take to El Campo Country Club in tournaments hosted by the Ricebirds and Lady 'Birds.

El Campo's boys and girls teams have been through a combined eight events in the Spring season. Monday, the girls will host a tournament while the boys will take their turn March 10.

It has been hard on the teams to get good practice time in for the last couple of months. Cold and wet is not a good combination for golf, but the Ricebirds and Lady 'Birds have pushed through the weather to prepare for some stiff competition.

"You don't know what the weather is going to do October through March and you can even say April," Harp said. "We're always blessed where we live, the weather is good for the most part. You've got to expect these days and weeks. They could come a week at a time or two weeks at a time.

"You're going to have to rely on what you did over the summer and what you've improved on. That's what we try to stress. Summer, yeah it's hot, but you're able to go out and put in some long days and a lot of practice."

Harp suggested as the summer goes, the season will follow. Constant practice helps for a consistent golf game. Without persistent play, golfers cannot rely on swinging well in tournaments.

"To me, golf is a year-round thing," the coach said. "Your improvements and what you do is really over the summer because of good weather and long days. The kids that excel are going to put in some good summers."

The boys team put work in through the heat and are reaping the benefits from their previous efforts. The 'Birds have had several strong showings in tournaments this year and could be poised for success come district play in April.

"I'm excited for the boys," Harp said. "Our competition is tough. We're definitely underdogs coming into the season, but I think we have two topnotch golfers that have the potential to play really well. They have the potential to play par golf."

Harp said he has three solid players and is looking for a fourth player to step up from a group of several golfers to join the team.

"Jordan McClain and Cullen Picket have the potential to play well," Harp said. "Of course, Cullen qualified for region last year and he's returning. The district really hasn't changed, but those two can carry a team. We have Chris Quinn who is not bad himself and can hold ground.

"Now all we need to do is find one more player that can help. It's exciting because we do have that potential. We have some players that, if we all have a good day, we can make a real run and we definitely can be competitive."

Harp is hopeful of the girls team for a different reason. This year, the Lady 'Bird team is comprised of three juniors and nine freshmen. With a team that is still relatively new to the game, the girls have a great chance to grow into a force over the next couple of years.

"The girls, I'm excited because we're young," Harp said. "We have a lot of work to do, but we're young. What we're looking for there is just improvement starting from the summer and getting lessons to how we finish at district - not as a team, per say, but how the girls improve individually. We're young and I'm looking forward to the future on that."

The Ricebirds were favored to win the district tournament last year and ended up finishing behind Seven Lakes and Foster in a big upset. This year, the boys are hoping to be the ones to upset its opponents.

Viewed as underdogs this season, El Campo has a good chance at sneaking in and forcing area schools to remember the Ricebirds are contenders.

"In competition, there's no guarantees," Harp said. "That's why we play the game. If we went off of paper this year, maybe we would finish fourth or fifth, I don't know. Those aren't our intentions.

"I have some kids that are hungry. They want to do well and they want to go to the next level. The first step is to get out of district. I think we'll do well and that's exciting. We can compete and we will compete."

The Ricebirds have their sights set high on the defending district champion Spartans who have two tough teams.

"Seven Lakes returns everybody," Harp said. "They return two really strong teams, one that finished as district champion and then finished as a regional finalist, went to state and was a state finalist last year. Then their second team last year finished fourth behind our strong team. They were right there in the thick of things and I know their thinking is they are going to go one and two. They might have the talent to do that, we'll see."

Next on El Campo's challenging list of foes is a team the 'Birds have been rivals with for some time - the Falcons.

"Foster has a good team coming back and they're competitive," Harp said. "Then I think we're just right there behind them looking in. We're looking in, but we're not going to just say they're going. We're going to fight and we're going to compete and we're going to do what we can to maybe have an upset, just like we were last year. We're going to show up and we're going to play and see what happens."

Harp said the goal for the girls team is improvement. He hopes the Lady 'Birds can lay solid ground work this season so the entire team can return next year ready to compete.

For now, the girls' inexperience hurts their chances in competing on the district level.

"The boys have been practicing probably since junior high and maybe elementary," Harp said. "Most of these girls have just picked up the game of golf this summer or the just picked up when the school year started, so we are really rough. I do have a couple girls who play a little bit, but their scores right now range right about 100 to 110 and that's not going to take us anywhere. Our goal though, is to get better.

"Realistically for girls, looking in, we can go compete and everything, but we don't have the skill level yet," Harp said. "We just don't. That's something we'll work on so that next year, I can't make these comments and next year, we're competing for a district title and competing to go to regionals. It's a whole progress."