After Monday’s first round of the UIL Class 4A girls golf state championship ended, Andrews didn’t leave Slick Rock Golf Course.
The Lady Mustangs’ golfers got a quick bite to eat and went right out to the course’s practice green to work on their short game.
Even though another state championship seemed inevitable, Andrews didn’t sit back and ponder — it sprung into action and bettered itself for its last round of the year.
“When most teams are inside and its super-duper windy or super-duper cold, we’re still out there practicing,” Andrews junior Rachel Huffman said. “We still want to improve from day-to-day.”
That difference is what’s separated the Lady Mustangs from the competition during this decade and led them to two more accolades.
Andrews Black (334-314—648) won the schools’ seventh straight state championship Tuesday by besting second-place Seminole (357-354—711) by 63 strokes. That’s the biggest margin of victory for the Lady Mustangs since 2014 when they won by 80 strokes.
Andrews Gold (355-366—721) finished in third place — 10 strokes behind Seminole.
Abilene Wylie’s Maddie Olson (70-76—146) won the individual title by a stroke over Bridgeport’s Brooks Irion (76-71—147). Lorena’s Steelie Priest defeated Huffman in a one-hole playoff to take third place individually.
Winning championships is nothing new to the Lady Mustangs as this triumph is their 15th in program history — extending its own UIL girls golf record.
This year was the first time however that Andrews had two teams place in the top three. It’s only happened a few other times in the UIL’s history with the most recent coming last year when the Austin Vandegrift boys’ team pulled it off.
“I think that throughout the years that I’ve played for Andrews golf that it’s been grinded into us that you’ve got to practice to get it,” Andrews senior Katelynn Savell said. “It’s not about luck, it’s not about ‘oh, you’re from Andrews, you get it’, it’s the hard work and dedication that’s put in.”
Andrews’ seventh straight state-championship victory is tied for the second longest streak all-time in UIL girls’ golf competition with Montgomery, which won every year from 2001 to 2007.
Booker still holds that record with its eight straight titles from 1986 to 1993. That’s a mark the Lady Mustangs have a chance at tying next season.
“I don’t think it’s a foolish bet to bet that Andrews will be back here next year,” said Todd Handley, who coached the Andrews’ girls during the state championship.
Handley stepped in for Mark Burgen during the tournament as the six-time state championship head coach was not in attendance.
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.
Even without their usual leader coaching them on, the Lady Mustangs still proved that they’re the best in the state once again. Andrews Black shot a tournament-low team score of 314 in the final round.
“Andrews has a lot of talent in athletics and so you bring that talent to the golf course and it just blooms I guess,” Huffman said. “We came out today and we had a lot more confidence and it’s less scary after you’ve done it once.”
As Andrews Black teed off between 10:10 a.m. and 10:50 a.m. Tuesday morning, the quintet and Handley never stopped working.
After Macy Schulze didn’t land her tee shot on hole No. 1 the way she wanted to, Handley looked back at Kinzee McAllister, who was next to tee off. After making sure McAllister was good to go, he took off with Schulze up the fairway to get her rhythm back.
Situations like that happened all over Slick Rock for Andrews Black during the final round where the Lady Mustangs better controlled their nerves despite the threat of rain and stronger winds swirling throughout the day.
“That’s kind of been their history and reputation — they’re a second-day team,” Handley said. “It’s been a rough week on them this week back at home in Andrews.
“I think by the time they got here, their goal was to get started right out of the gate and it took us a little while to settle down and play but when they did, they played.”
Andrews Gold had a little more trouble finding its groove during the final round as Seminole was able to pull past it for second place.
That disappointment will fuel the four Andrews Gold sophomores to strive for more next year as once again the Lady Mustangs can possibly bring seven athletes with state-tournament experience to the 2018 championship.
The third-place mark improves on Andrews Gold’s fourth-place finish a year ago at the state tournament where it missed the podium by four strokes.
 “We realized that this is still a huge accomplishment for us,” Andrews Gold’s Sarah Harris said about taking third place. “We always have something to work for.”
Andrews and Seminole taking first to third means that each Class 4A girls’ golf team trophy is headed within a half-hour
