Warlassies chip in for West Highlands Conference championship

FIve Owen golfers claim regular season title, qualify for 2A West Regional

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
October 14, 2023

The Owen golf team, from left to right, Riley Ogle, Elly Wright, Tinley Clark, Bryanna Stafford and Scout Schermerhorn, finished atop the Western Highlands Conference 2023 regular season standings, Oct. 12, when the team placed third in the final conference match of the campaign. All five Warlassies have qualified to compete in the 2A West Regionals, Oct. 23, at Meadowbrook Golf Course. Photo courtesy of Owen Warlassies

As the 2023 Western Highlands Conference regular season came to a close, Oct. 12, at Silver Creek Golf Club in Morganton, Owen emerged as the head of the pack, wrapping up a campaign in which they were 4 shots ahead of second place Avery.

The Warlassies, which will send all five golfers on their roster to the NCHSAA 2A West Regional tournament later this month, travel to Spruce Pine, at 1 p.m., Monday, Oct. 16, to compete in the WHC Conference Championship Tournament.

The regular season, in which Owen finished first in two conference tournaments, second in three and third in the finale, hosted by Draughn, represented a milestone for a team that added four new golfers to the roster over the summer, according to head coach John Knight, who is in his 17th year at the helm of the program.

“All of the work we did has really paid off,” said Knight, who established the county’s first women’s golf team at Owen in 1998. “I’m incredibly proud of these girls because they have really come a long way.”

Senior Tinley Clark represents the lone holdover from a 2022 roster that featured three players, but she was joined by three of her softball teammates — Riley Ogle, Bryanna Stafford and Elly Wright — before the season began in August. Freshman Scout Schermerhorn brought experience to the group, after competing in U.S. Kids Golf.

With three inexperienced golfers coming into the season, the Warlassies’ earliest practices were on a field at the Black Mountain Neurological Center, according to Knight. They worked on sand traps and putting at their home Black Mountain Golf Course.

“Tinley played for the first time last season, but she made all-conference and qualified for regionals,” the coach said. “Elly, Riley and Bryanna were all playing for the first time this year, and the adjustment from a softball swing to a golf swing isn’t always easy. So we did a lot of swinging and picking up golf balls as we worked our way into it.”

The Warlassies competed in non-conference matches early in the season, finishing first at Mountain Glen, second in West Lincoln and outdueling Freedom 155 - 172 in Black Mountain.

“What really helped us was playing 18 holes at Springdale, because they got to compete against girls from big 3A schools, 2A schools, private schools and 1A schools,” Knight said. “They got to see how big golf really is.”

Owen responded to the experience by topping the first two conference matches of the season and finishing second in the next two.

“Once we started playing in conference, we had already played together, and we got off to a great start,” Knight said. “I told the girls we had a chance after the first conference match in Avery County.”

The Warlassies held a 5-shot over the Vikings as the teams entered the regular season finale, where Wright posted her second-best score of the season to clinch the title.

“She needed a 54 or better, and she came in with 50,” Knight said. “Everybody was excited for her.”

Each player qualified for regional competition after shooting 55 or better in five regular season matches.

“That’s a big deal,” the coach said. “That’s the most you can take to regionals, and the top three scores there count toward your final results.”

The accomplishment marks a significant turnaround for a program that featured only one player in 2020 and 2021.

“These girls have done an unbelievable job this year,” Knight said. “This marks the 10th regular season conference championship in school history, and they deserve a lot of credit for how hard they’ve worked to get here.”