After a dream freshman season that ended with a state championship, Colby’s Anna Starbuck had a brush with a nightmare scenario as she was gearing up for her sophomore season last year. 

Starbuck suffered a broken wrist during basketball workouts in the summer of 2021, putting her golf season in jeopardy. 

“When I first found out, I was so stressed out,” Starbuck said. “The first thing I thought about was: Will I be back for golf season? That was the first thing that popped in my mind. I was pretty nervous: Is this injury going to be really bad?”

Colby coach Rick Williams also initially feared the worst, having suffered the same injury during his high school football days. 

“Immediately when I found out, my first thought was that we probably wouldn’t have her for the season, just because your wrist is so important in golf,” Williams said.

Fortunately, instead of being a season-ender, the injury turned out to be something Starbuck could battle her way through. She spent eight weeks in a cast and was held out of Colby’s first two tournaments before returning to competition.

Despite fighting some pain and discomfort throughout the season, Starbuck regained her form. She won all five regular-season tournaments she competed in and then repeated as Great West Activities Conference and regional champion. She took runner-up at the Class 3-2-1A state tournament in Hesston to Wichita Collegiate’s Margaret Ulrich. 

“I could kind of notice (the injury) in my swings, but you just kind of get used to it after you play with it for a little bit,” Starbuck said. “Mainly, it was just sore afterwards. Usually I had to ice it, and that’s about as bad as it got. You just got used to playing with it.”

Now a junior, Starbuck is back fully healthy and racking up tournament wins. She’s won five of six tournaments so far, including 18-hole wins at the Goodland (83), Ulysses (77), Colby (81) and Scott City (81) tourneys.

“She’s playing well right now,” Williams said. “I think she’ll tell you she would like to be a little more consistent with her ball striking so far this year, but she’s been able to put together decent scores even when she didn’t have her best swing on some days, and that’s really where you find out if someone’s any good overall. Anyone can play when they’re swinging it well, but can you still score when your timing’s a little off or you’re fighting your swing a little bit?"

Starbuck quickly emerged as one of the top golfers in western Kansas as a freshman. She captured a Class 3-2-1A state title in 2020 by shooting a two-day total of 158 and winning by seven strokes at Cherry Oaks Golf Course in Cheney. 

“She has a lot of composure,” Williams said. “ For her to go to bed at night after one day at the state tournament with a lead, that’s a lot to think about.”

“I kind of didn’t realize I had a lead,” Starbuck said. “I prefer when I play not to look at the scores much, so I didn’t realize I had much of a lead at all after the first day. I just thought of it as playing another round.”

All things considered, Starbuck was pleased with her sophomore season last year. She shot rounds of 81 and 77 to finish with a 158 for the second straight year, seven shots back of Ulrich. 

“I was pretty pleased,” Starbuck said. “I was a little disappointed I didn’t shoot a little lower more consistently, but that’s what I’m trying to do better this year, Like coach said, playing with what I’ve got is kind of what I struggled with last year. Sometimes I get a little nervous about it. This year I’m working on playing with the swing that I have that day and doing the best that I can, which has worked well for me.”

Starbuck pointed to improvements in her short game and ball striking, as well as her mental approach. 

“I’ve tried to work on my mentality more,” Starbuck said. “Even in my freshman year, I was doing OK, but when I started to play not so well, I got a little nervous. It made me a little tense and then I could hit it a little further away from where I wanted to.  But I really worked on trying to stay positive, positive body language, talking to myself. It really (benefits) your golf game if you’re positive.”

As a team, Colby has finished runner-up at state in each of the last three years and took fourth the year before that.

Like Starbuck, senior Brinley Sims has placed at state the last two seasons. The Eagles graduated state placers Mya Betz and Jalyn Sabatka, but Logan Nolan and Kaitlyn Williams are back after playing in the state tourney last year. Newcomers to varsity this year are Maryn King and Natalie Wederski. 

“Obviously our goal is to win a state trophy, and that’s our goal every year,” Williams said. “I know (Pittsburg) Colgan’s loaded because they didn’t lose anybody from last year, and we lost two state medalists. But I like how are JV girls who came up are playing.

“We’re pretty happy about where we’re at. We would like to see us take that next step."
 

HAYS GOLF FIRING SCHOOL RECORDS

The Hays High golf team set 18-hole school records in back-to-back days last week. 

The Indians broke the previous school record of 331 by shooting a 329 to win the Garden City Invitational on Thursday at Buffalo Dunes Golf Course. 

Hays then fired a 326 to win the Buhler Invitational on Friday at Hesston Golf Course.

At Garden City, Hays placed four in the top 10. Katie Dinkel was runner-up with a 79, followed by Evyn Cox in fourth place with an 82, Abbie Norris in fifth place with an 83 and Jaycee Oakley in sixth with an 85. 

Norris paced the Indians with a 76 at Hesston to place second. Dinkel took fifth with an 81 while Lily Garrison was seventh with an 83. Oakley shot an 86 to finish just outside of the top 10. 

The Indians have four tournament titles on the season, also winning the Hays Invitational and Liberal Invitational. 

Hays was tasked this season with replacing Taleia McCrae, a four-time state placer, but the Indians returned the reigning Western Athletic Conference player of the year in Dinkel, who placed ninth at state last year. 

The Indians have relied on their depth.

“When you lose Taleia, who placed four times at state in the top 20, it’s hard to replace,” Hays coach Mark Watts said at the beginning of the season. “I told the girls, to make up her scores, it’s like you have to shoot three, four strokes better than you shot last year. 

“We can count on six girls, actually seven. It looks good. The girls work hard in practice.”

Oakley is one of several improved players for the Indians. She won the season-opening Hays Invitational by firing a 75 on a shortened course at Smoky Hill Country Club on Aug. 29.

“My drives are really starting to click and my short chips were starting to come together,” Oakley said. “Last year I didn’t do the best sometimes, but this year I just want to have more fun.”

Dodge City’s Ashlyn Armstong won the Garden City Invitational with a 76.