It’s a promising year for the Cassville girls golf team.

With a returning state medalist who is only a junior, plus two other junior returners, the Lady Wildcats have added seven more for a roster of 10, up a few from the 2021 season. “

We have 10 this year when we had 6 or 7 last year,” said Jay Rogers, Cassville golf coach. “We have three returning, all juniors, then one senior in her first year playing, two freshmen and four sophomores.

“We are pretty young, but I like our numbers and what it looks like for our future.”

Leading the returners is Avery Chappell, one of two state qualifiers last season and Cassville’s first girls golf medalist with a 10th-place finish.

“Obviously Avery had a good year last year, so we’ll look to build on that success and build her scoring average while having success in tournaments,” Rogers said. “She is pretty motivated and works a lot with her father in the off-season. I don’t have to work with her a lot and can turn her loose because she knows what she needs to do already.”

Rogers said the other pair of returners, Gracie Harmon and Chaney Cox, are on the up this season with another senior campaign waiting in the wings.

“Gracie and Chaney both look greatly improved from last year, so I hope they are in the mix in some tournaments and can advance out of districts,” Rogers said.

The remainder of the Lady Wildcats’ roster includes senior Maci Barton; sophomores Adelee Hendricks, Madison Robertshaw, Langston Mitchell and Isabella Dunbar; and freshmen Julie Gregory and Gwendylan Harmon.

“Most of these girls have very little to no golf experience at all,” Rogers said. “We are starting by teaching the basic fundamentals of the rules and ethics, and we are keeping it light so they have a good experience.”

By the season’s end, Rogers said he hopes to take as many as possible to state after Chappell and graduate Alyzea Myers attended last year’s championships.

“I’d love to have more than one make it to state and to get a couple in the All-Conference teams,” he said. “Overall though, I just want to see improvement. If we can cut strokes off our average throughout the season and going into next, I would consider that a success.”

Rogers said to hit that goal, it will take a mix of focuses.

“For the younger girls, they need to be patient and persevere – know they won’t get good overnight,” he said. “For the returners, they have to identify their weaknesses and areas that they can improve the most to lower their scores.”

Cassville’s season begins on Aug. 30 in Reeds Spring, and the Lady Wildcats will host a pair of tournaments this year, one on Sept. 8 and another on Sept. 22.