The pair of Andrews teams competing at the UIL Class 4A girls golf state tournament are halfway to an extraordinary feat.
The Lady Mustangs’ duo sit in first and second place after the first round of the tournament Monday at Slick Rock Golf Course.
Andrews Black (334) holds a 21-stroke lead over Andrews Gold (355) with Seminole just off that pace in third (357). Fredericksburg (366) will round out the final rotation of tee times today by sitting in fourth place.
Never before in a UIL state-golf competition has the same school placed teams first and second. Andrews now stand one round away from breaking that glass ceiling.
“I think it’s just that we’ve been on the course so much and I think that we have a lot of experience here which gives us kind of an advantage,” said Lady Mustangs’ junior Rachel Huffman, who shot an Andrews-low 76 during the first round. “I definitely feel like just the level of experience we have and the level of talent that we have in our program helps us a lot.”
The six-time defending state champions had golfers tee off nearly three hours apart with Andrews Black’s Macy Schulze leaving the first tee box right after 8 a.m. and Andrews Gold’s Bailey McCarver departing from that same spot around 10:45 a.m.
Giving those final words of instruction before starting the round wasn’t Mark Burgen — who led Andrews to those half-dozen titles. It was Todd Handley — the full-time boys’ golf coach for the Mustangs.
Andrews athletic director Ralph Mason declined to comment further to the Odessa American about the coaching change other than one was made for this week.
A petition circulated Facebook in the last week in support of Burgen, calling for the coach to remain employed at Andrews ISD. Conversation in the group suggested Burgen as having been disciplined by the school district after being accused of texting and driving with a student in the vehicle.
CBS 7 reported Monday that according to an Andrews Police Report, Burgen committed a Class C misdemeanor of using a wireless communication device in a school crossing zone or while operating a school bus with a minor passenger.
In turning to Handley for the state championships, the Lady Mustangs find someone who has been around the program all year despite not directly coaching them.
“We’ve got some younger players,” Handley said about the team. “It’s not like were down here with five seniors playing college golf next year.”
While they might be young, the Lady Mustangs entered the state tournament with seven golfers who had previous state-championship experience including every member of Andrews Black. Three of them (Huffman, Kinzee McAllister and Savannah Pinson) returned to Andrews Black after being a part of the championship-winning quintet a season ago.
All of the 12 teams competing at this year’s state tournament struggled on the first nine holes at Slick Rock with the swirling winds and bends at almost every hole at the more-than-5,700 yard course.
Andrews has played at this course already this season and used its knowledge of how the ball reacts to every green and fairway to buck the trend of rising scores.
Andrews Black reacted quickest on the heels of Huffman’s 4-over-par 76. Huffman is tied for second place in the individual standings with Bridgeport’s Brooks Irion. The only golfer at Slick Rock to shoot under par in the first round was Abilene Wylie’s Maddie Olson (70).
“The adjustments they made between the front nine scores and the back nine scores were significant,” Handley said about Andrews Black. “We’re talking about 17-year-old kids, 18 year-old-kids, so there’s some nerves to deal with. I thought our group settled down pretty good, fairly quick.”
Andrews’ golfers were able to combat those nerves and have a school-high round of 93. No other full team avoided at least one golfer going into triple digits.
Seasoned veterans run into trouble when the lights are on brightest and for all 10 girls not to be an anchor for Andrews is a tribute to their work ethic, Handley said.
“Our theory is to outwork everybody and that’s what they do – they’re prepared,” Handley said. “They know how important this is. They know what’s at stake. They know how many they’ve won in a row. I challenge a lot of people to come out here and pull a swing off for a five-hour round of golf knowing what our girls have at stake.”
Even with a majority of the Lady Mustangs’ prior season tournaments coming in West Texas with shorter trees and flatter ground, they were able to combat other teams with more of a Hill Country pedigree.
Andrews Gold navigated through those problems despite having four sophomores on the team.
For the second straight year, Andrews sent two teams to the state tournament. Last year Andrews Gold missed the podium by four strokes to finish in fourth place.
Even though Andrews hoped to claim the top-two podium spots heading into the final round, it still had to accomplish that feat. It did so despite any outside distractions.
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