South Tama freshman, Madison Rohach, led the Trojans with a 51 at their first home meet of the season on Tuesday, April 12. The meet was held at the Tama-Toledo Country Club. Chronicle Photo/Allison Graham

The South Tama Girls hosted Vinton-Shellsburg on Tuesday April 12th at the Tama Toledo Country Club. It was the girls’ first meet of the year, as cold weather and rain have played a role so far this season. Not only was it the girls first meet of the season, it was almost all of the girls first taste of an actual golf meet. Last year the Trojans graduated all four seniors from the team. This year they have nine new faces on the squad and some new coaches too. This year’s team is made up of two seniors, three juniors, two sophomores, and three freshmen. This season the team is being co-coached by Chelsea Ahrens and Deanna Zmolek. Coach Ahrens started coaching golf last year but missed most of the season due to the birth of her second daughter. Coach Ahrens played golf throughout high school and was part of the state qualifying team her junior and senior year at Clear Lake. Coach Zmolek is no stranger to South Tama girls’ golf & the community, as she was part of the 1998 state championship team and 1997 runner up team. She golfed at the University of Northern Iowa. She has also taught many people the game as an instructor through the STC Recreational Program.

With new faces on the coaching staff and team the girls came out a shot a 242, while Vinton shot a 197. Medalist was Lauren Tandy from Vinton who shot a 45 and her sister Rachel Tandy shot a 49 good enough for runner-up. Freshman Madison Rohach led the Trojans with a 51. Although Madison is only a 9th grader, she has the most experience on the golf team because she has played some tournaments on the junior circuit before. Other varsity scores for the Trojans were: Madie Bacon 64, Taylor Ray 65, Grace Jimenez 62, Kenze Smith 67, and McKenna Knock 69. Junior Varsity scores were Taylor Lekin 62, Mahala Doyle 67.

“I was pleased with our girls first meet of the year and that all girls were under 70. For most of our girls this might have been only the second or third time for them playing a full nine holes. Each meet we will continue to get better and our top four girls can and defiantly will have better scores. I think nervousness played a big role in a lot of our scores, ” said Coach Ahrens.