Senior Abigail Brown and sophomore Emily Shelton represent the present and future of McAlester High School girl’s golf. Both went to state last year when the Lady Buffs went as a team and both qualified individually this year as they take up the momentum established last year by Aubrey House who has gone on to play golf at OCU.
“Abigail took over the leadership role this year with Aubrey gone and did a great job,” said golf coach Justin Bond. “She’s very active in school but she always found time to be a big contributor to golf.
Emily just got into golf the last two years and has the potential to be a very good golfer and she’s shown that she’s ready to step into the leadership role with Abigail leaving.”
Abigail paced the team this year and is proud of the way things turned out even though they didn’t make state as a team.
“Last year we relied on Aubrey’s low scores to carry us but this year I was proud of the way a lot of our young girls stepped up to help us. I tried to lead this year by getting to know everyone and have some kind of interaction with them and encourage them because I remember how it was when I was a shy and timid freshman.”
For Emily this year was another step in what she hopes will be a venue for college golf.
“I started playing in eighth grade because my mom played golf in high school and got me to try it. I’ve also been playing softball but now that I’ve had some success with golf, I’ll concentrate solely on that my final two years. I like golf more because it’s a smaller team sport with fewer girls which means less drama and it’s a sport where you’re responsible for your own success. I placed in the top five in four tournaments this year and was pretty pleased with the way I played at state.”
Abigail, who is in student council, has been student body president, is in National Honor Society and is the class valedictorian, plans to attend the University of Arkansas next year and major in accounting but golf will probably be limited to some scrambles on the local course. Emily says that next year she wants to return to state and work towards getting a college golf scholarship.
