As captain of the Wawasee girls golf team, Krista Zurcher didn’t know how vocal she would have to be this season.
As it turns out, not much more than anyone else.
It helps that the Warriors are one of the best teams in northeast Indiana – see their 16-0 record – and the players are more concerned with encouraging one another than worrying about who shoots the best scores.
“As the captain, I guess I’m the one who is put in that position (of leadership),” Zurcher said. “But everyone is really encouraging for everyone else, and we mesh well together and keep moving on and forward. We just try to take things one step at a time. We can’t press or anything. We shoot the scores we’re capable of shooting, then see how everything turns out.”
Wawasee knew it would be good this season, but the lineup was bolstered with the arrival of an exchange student from Thailand, Sathita Cheeranont.
“It was very exciting seeing her play (for the first time),” said Zurcher, a regional qualifier last year. “It was just encouraging to know that we would have that fourth score. We had always had three and needed one more, and she filled that spot.”
Cheeranont more than filled out the roster; she made it intimidating.
Cheeranont’s nine-hole stroke average is a team-best 39.2. She also had a school-record 3-under par 69 at the Rochester Invitational, when the Warriors set a team record with a 326.
“A week before the season started, (Cheeranont) made contact with me and signed up for classes,” Wawasee coach Scott DeHart said. “Then I watched her play and knew she was a special player. She made it a more solid team, and she’s made the girls come up another notch. We were going to be a good team without her, but she has brought up the level of play of the other girls.”
Wawasee also set a new nine-hole record of 160 this season.
Zurcher, who plays in the No. 1 slot and has an average of 42.5, is bolstered by her talent around and on the greens.
“She’s outstanding in the short game, where you have to score,” DeHart said. “From 100 yards in, she’s pretty doggone good.”
Zurcher acknowledged the short game is where she excels.
“I don’t always hit the ball the farthest,” she said, “but I think that’s where I really score – up around the green.”
Junior Cortney Rassi averages 45.5. Senior Alexis Linnemeier averages 46.3. And senior Cayla Hilgenberg has an average of 51 heading into Saturday’s conference tournament at Stonehenge.
“It’s been a wonderful season,” DeHart said. “The girls worked hard in the offseason to be where they are right now. It’s a special group of girls. They’ve played well together, supported each other, jelled, and if one girl has a bad night, the others pick her up.”
