The Warrenton Lady Warriors return several key contributors from last season’s team as they look to take the next step as a golf program. 

Warrenton head golf coach Kelly Anderson said the Lady Warriors are “more of a veteran squad compared to years past.” Warrenton is led by senior Merrick Owens, who is Warrenton’s lone senior. Warrenton returns several varsity starters from last year’s team. 

“She’s (Owens) a great leader,” Anderson said. “She’s a positive influence and it’s a great group of kids to work with, even though it’s a small group.” 

Warrenton has six players on the golf team this season. 

Owens has high goals for the upcoming season individually. 

“Personally, I’d really like to make it to state again,” Owens said. “Maybe get like top 30-ish. And then I’d also like to be first team conference somewhere.” 

She also hopes the Lady Warrior team is happy with how they perform on the golf course this season and how they display their talents. 

Early on in practice, Warrenton’s focus is to take a lot of swings and know their club distances. Anderson stressed they bring ranging experience to the roster, from Owens who plays almost all year to players with less experience. 

“We really try to figure out what they need to work on individually,” Anderson said. “Because even though we are a team sport, there’s a lot of things that the kids need to work on. So right now, just learning the clubs we need to use and the situations and working on the game. The part of the game that they need to most work on.” 

Anderson said the Lady Warrior golfers set both team goals and individual goals. She hopes they can have low team scores and improve individually on the golf course. 

“We would love to finish higher in conference,” Anderson said. “And I think we have a really good shot at finishing higher than we have before in conference with the veteran players that we have.” 

Anderson believes the Lady Warriors’ experience competing at the varsity level will help on the golf course this season. She referenced Owens’ experience at the varsity level and the experience most of the other golfers bring coming into this season. 

“Just them having that experience and being able to go in and understand what they’re good at and what they can capitalize on, especially in a match and not having the nerves that they’ve had in the past I think is going to be a big help towards our goals as a team and lowering our score and where we finish in conference,” Anderson said.