The Sapulpa golf teams entered the 2023 season having lost a large chunk of their previous squads to graduation, and the results reflected what was considered a rebuilding year.
But even with a much more inexperienced group than in 2022, when both the boys’ and girls’ teams qualified for the Class 5A state tournament, there were still some bright spots this past season.
Even though the teams didn’t make it to the state tournament, two Sapulpa girls did qualify as individuals and both senior Aziah Perez and junior Halle Sumner delivered strong performances at the 5A state tournament at Dornick Hills in Ardmore on May 3-4. Perez shot a 91-91-182 and finished 20th (the same spot she placed in 2022) and Sumner tied for 29th with a 95-102-197.
“They did pretty solid, they both had pretty good years,” said Chieftain golf coach Andy Tuttle. “They always want better, could have better, but it could have been a lot worse, too. It’s always good to qualify for state.”
Those two were the only Chieftain girls to compete at the 5A East Regional on April 25. The third member of the Sapulpa team was Stella Green but she was unable to participate at regionals (and thus didn’t have the opportunity to qualify for state). And there was originally a fourth player but she left Sapulpa before the season started.
“Stella ended up wasn’t able to go to regionals just because of some class obligations and so forth, and I had another girl that ended up leaving school right before golf season over Christmas break, and that would have made us four,” Tuttle said. “With four, we probably would have made it as a team, just because of our first two scorers, they’re pretty strong and that would have carried the team.”
None of the Chieftain boys made it to state, although sophomore Mark Russell just barely missed the cut, by one stroke.
“The boys, we were very young and inexperienced this year,” Tuttle said. “I think I had one guy returning from last year’s team and he’s only a sophomore. I had basically two kids that actually played golf for more than two years on the team. I had three seniors that just started playing, so it was kind of a rebuild year. Last year, I graduated nine seniors, boys and girls. Last year (in 2022), both my boys and girls teams made state, and I lost four starters on the boys and one starter on the girls. So that made a big difference.”
For Russell, who placed 34th at state in 2022 with a 81-87-96-264, it was extremely disappointing to miss qualifying for state by such a slight margin, but Tuttle believes it can be a good motivating tool for the future.
“That was a little tough,” Tuttle said of Russell falling just short at the 5A Boys Regional at Pryor Creek on May 1. “He started off pretty strong, kind of had a lull during the middle of the season, and towards the end, he struggled a little bit, but then had a decent round at regionals. Not his best, but to miss it by one stroke is kind of heart-breaking. But maybe it will be a humbling experience for him in the long run. I try to preach to him ‘one stroke at a time,’ and you don’t think one stroke’s a difference, but it could be a big difference.”
Tuttle believes next year will be better, thanks to several incoming freshmen that will bolster both lineups, hopefully enabling the Chieftains to have full teams competing at regionals. For the boys, Tuttle is eager to see what Ryan Haught and Zeke Porter can do at the high school level, while Tatum Miller will help the girls.
“I’ve got quite a few eighth-grade boys that’ll come up and I think they’ll challenge for some varsity spots next year, so that’s exciting,” Tuttle said. “They had a pretty successful junior high season, so I’m looking forward to having them up there next year. And a couple of girls, they’ll be helping out with the girls program. I’ll have two returning and then I’ll have some more coming in.”
