Local golf teams enjoyed great success in 2008

It was quite a high school golf season for Faulkner County teams in 2008.

St. Joseph won two more state championships. Chris Kordsmeier's Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs ran their streaks to three consecutive apiece with the Class 2A titles. Austen Moix won medalist honors in the boys tournament.

Conway's Wampus Cats won their first state championship since the 2001-02 school year. Janet Taylor's team won the Class 7A title.

Moix, Matthew Dail, Brooke Enderlin and Maegan Wade of St. Joseph qualified for the Arkansas High School Overall Championship, as did Ethan King and Mary Michael Maggio of Conway.

And Maggio, the most decorated female golfer in Faulkner County history and one of five Division I commitments in Arkansas's Class of 2009, finished a stellar high school career.

"High school golf is a great opportunity; high school athletics is a great opportunity," said Maggio, who will sign with LSU on Nov. 12. "I walked away with a state championship and two Overall titles and friends I'll have for the rest of my life, which is so much more important."

Maggio earned conference medalist honors four times and state medalist honors in 2007 to go with runner-up finishes in 2005, '06 and '08. She won the Overall championship in 2006 and '07 and finished runner-up in '05 and '08.

"I hit a lot of good shots and a lot of bad shots, made a lot of putts and missed my share," Maggio said. "It's been a lot of fun. I have no regrets. I'm sad to move on but also excited to move on to bigger and better things.

"Overall, being a Wampus Cat has been excellent."

In her final appearance representing CHS at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock on Thursday, she stood two strokes back of Emma Lavy of Fayetteville, who had beaten her in a playoff for the state championship, following the first 18 holes. Entering the final nine of the 27-hole tournament, she said she felt confident in her chances to win her third consecutive Overall title.

She pulled even with Lavy and one stroke ahead of Taylor Fisher of Hot Springs Lakeside, but on the par-five, 23rd hole, things changed.

"I ripped a drive right down the middle, one of the best I hit all day, and I watched Emma and Taylor both hit in the woods," Maggio said. "I had 218 to the pin and thought, 'This is money.'

"I pulled out a 5-wood and took the quickest swing you could imagine. You couldn't see it; the only thing you could do was hear it, and I hooked it in the woods and made double."

Lavy managed a par to Maggio's double-bogey and went on to a three-stroke win. Fisher tied Maggio for second.

But even after the high school career was over, she never questioned her strategy of going for the green in two.

"Put me there a million times, I go for it every single time," she said. "I could be down by five or up by five and I'm going for it. I just made a terrible golf swing, probably one of the worst of the day. It was not a good time to make it, but that's me and Arkansas championships."

Maggio will likely see more of Lavy and Haley Sanders of Rogers, who finished fourth at the Overall, in the future. Lavy has committed to Arkansas and Sanders to Ole Miss.

"I am so excited about that," Maggio said. "It'll be fun if we ever have a chance to walk down the fairway in the SEC Championships."

Those three aren't the only Arkansans expected to sign with Division I schools. Chelsey Cothran of Springdale, who has been home-schooled, will head to Baylor in January. Fisher was considering among UALR, Middle Tennessee and Missouri-Kansas City at press time.

"The level of competition in Arkansas junior girls golf has been taken to a whole new level with the 2009 class," Maggio said. "What other sport that's not football and basketball can say that the state has that many D-1 signees?

"It's just so great to see the dedication and the hard work and the striving for excellence in all five of us. It's good to see our sweat, our blood, going for better things. We are all very fortunate kids that our hard work is paying off, and we'll go off and represent the state of Arkansas to the best of our abilities not only in golf but also as people.

"It's such a great thing to see five kids who started at Cadron Valley five, six years ago, come this far. It speaks volumes for the level of golf in Arkansas right now."

Maggio's efforts both on and off the course haven't gone unnoticed by her teammates.

"She helps me out with my game and around the course with course management," said King, a CHS junior who finished second in the 7A state boys tournament. "She inspires me to play good knowing she's from Conway, too. I'm just glad to have her around."

But after Thursday's Overall, Maggio is taking a break for awhile.

"I haven't taken a real break in three years," she said. "I've been bouncing around, and honestly, when I played basketball in the ninth grade, that was my last break. I hope somebody grabbed my clubs from the golf course because I won't be seeing them much for about six weeks."

(Golf writer Donna Lampkin Stephens may be reached at donnaken@me.com.)