The Division Four Girls Golf state meet occurred at Bedford Valley, Battle Creek from Friday Oct. 20 through Saturday Oct. 21. The meet had players come from all across the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, and featured over 18 teams.
It was no surprise to anyone when they first heard that St. Louis Shark Natalee Hoyt had qualified for the state meet this year. At state, Hoyt out-golfed a whopping 73 percent of her competition and placed 30th out of 111 total competitors. On her first round Friday, Hoyt shot a 99, and on her second round Saturday, she scored a 96. If one had the privilege of seeing Hoyt golf in person that weekend, they would have been privy to a multitude of exceptional drives and chip shots from Hoyt.
Andrea Biehl, the St. Louis girls’ golf coach said she was excited for Hoyt’s performance at this meet, going on to say, “Super proud of Nat’s performance and attitude during the state tournament. We got rained on for the entire tournament, including our practice round on Thursday. The temperatures were low which made the rain much worse but Nat never complained.” Biehl went on to discuss the resilience that Hoyt has with, “She is an outstanding athlete and individual. Her sportsmanship is second to none.”
After the previous regional meet Oct. 12,where Hoyt placed second overall, she focused on continuous practice by hitting at the range and putting on the green at Hidden Oaks Golf Course with her teammates Emma Worthy and Lauren Divine, who also traveled to Battle Creek to support Hoyt. Of course any practice is helpful for perfecting her craft, but Hoyt shared her opinion on why she continued to practice with others, “It always helps to have an outside opinion on what I need to improve on.”
Now that the season is over, Hoyt is beginning to turn her focus toward academics and winter sports, but that doesn’t mean that golf is out of her heart and mind completely. Hoyt still plans on practicing whenever she can in order to stay in love with the sport she’s known her whole life. Hoyt stated, “It’s definitely a breath of fresh air now that the season is over, but I’m going to miss all of the team activities and moments we had during the years. This team is one of the reasons I love this sport as much as I do.”
With the season now having wrapped up and no future girls golf events to look forward to in the 2023-2024 school year, the Golf team would like to offer their thanks to those who supported them this season, and as always, “Go Sharks!”
