Photo by Erin Nelson.
Spain Park’s Taylor Trible putts on the green of Hole 1 during the Spain Park girls golf invitational at Greystone Golf and Country Club’s Legacy Course on March 17.
The Spain Park High School girls golf team is on a mission to do something quite difficult: successfully defend a state championship.
Spain Park won its third state title last spring, winning a rain-shortened event in Mobile to claim the Class 7A title.
That team had no seniors and lost no one to graduation, so hopes are high once again for the Jaguars. “We’ve got a healthy competition going on among the team, and that keeps everybody working and trying to improve,” said Spain Park coach Kelly Holland, who has overseen each of the previous state championships (2009, 2017 and 2021).
Taylor Trible is the unquestioned leader of the team, from performance and leadership standpoints. She has signed to play at the University of Southern Miss, continuing a trend of recent Spain Park players going on to play in college. As of this spring, Mary Kate Horton (Samford University), Caroline Waldrop and Marilyn Steed (both at UAB) were still playing at the college level.
“She embraces that spot and that position,” Holland said of Trible. “She’s helping everybody, talking to everybody, encouraging them. She’s the perfect leader for this team, being so young.”
Outside of Trible and fellow senior Haley Lockhart, the other four players are underclassmen. Courtney Johnson, who tied for individual low medalist honors at state last year, is just a sophomore. Emma Fortier is in 10th grade as well, and Polly Kate McCrackin and Carmen Britt are freshmen.
“It’s been interesting,” Holland said. “Everybody’s getting their turn, and somebody is going to step up and own their position. Hopefully we’ll keep improving.”
Holland said she has been shuffling the lineup each tournament because of the team’s depth, something not many high school teams have the luxury of doing. In tournament play, four golfers are inserted into the team lineup, with the top three scores counting to the team total.
Spain Park battled the elements and tough competition during the regular season, but won a couple tournaments. The Jags won the season-opening Auburn Invitational, with Trible finishing runner-up with a round of 71. McCrackin led the way to a second-place finish in Dothan, then Trible won low medalist honors at the Hoover March Madness tournament, leading Spain Park to victory. The Jags hosted the Spain Park Invitational in mid-March, finishing second, and beat Hoover 6-0 in a matchplay event in April.
“It’s unbelievable to have six players who at any time can enter your lineup,” Holland said. “That’s a great problem to have.”
Holland was hopeful the team would continue to improve throughout the spring and play its best golf down the stretch. The Jags’ postseason run began in late April, with the section tournament at Highland Park.
In May, Spain Park is hopeful to advance to the sub-state tournament at Timberline Golf Club in Calera. If the Jags are able to advance beyond that, the state tournament is at Hampton Cove, a Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail course in Huntsville.
