WINDERMERE, Fla. — It's not often a first-year program can meet the lofty aspirations of a state championship. But that was the expectation from the start for the Windermere Prep girls golf team when the season began.
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Last week, Windermere Prep followed up on that goal by winning the Class 1A title by three strokes (589-592) over St. Petersburg Northside Christian at Ocala Golf Club.
"It was fun to put this team together with the level of talent we have here," Windermere Prep Coach Chris Wagner told WFTV.
He has coached the boys team over the past five years and found that coaching a group of girls, who have competed on the national level, was a little tougher than he originally anticipated.
"I thought the coaching would be easy, but it was harder," he said. "They had to learn to play as a team and, once they did, they loved it."
So much so that they're already talking about returning to the finals next year to do it all over again.
Ninth-grader Shannon Aubert (70-69) led the way at states along with eighth-graders Samantha Wagner (75-66) and Ailin Li (71-80). Junior Alice Barbieri (80-78) rounded out the scoring. "They've all played like number ones for us," Wagner said. "Everyone plays as a team and that's the big thing."
Despite holding a one-stroke lead after the first day of competition, he said the girls did not play their best to open the tournament. They remained loose, though, and got an extra jolt of energy when injured teammate Cindy Seng showed up to cheer them on.
They proceeded to open the first nine holes with a 1-over par score and relied on strong finishes from Aubert (second overall) and Wagner (tied for third overall) down the stretch.
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