MARYSVILLE — The season has begun for Marysville Getchell girls golf as the team hosted its first match against Meadowdale and Stanwood on Wednesday, March 13, at Cedarcrest Golf Course for nine holes at par 35.

Getchell took second place at the match with a team score of 282, behind Stanwood who had a 274.

“We have seven returning, two seniors, two juniors and the rest are sophomores,” said head coach Jaci Legore Hodgins. “Basically we are working on what needs to be a championship mindset. That ranges all the way from how you handle your thoughts while you are playing golf to the decisions you make on and off the golf course.”

This season marks the first time that girls golf is playing stroke rather than Stableford, a style of scoring that had been different for girls teams in previous years.

“This is our first year that we are actually playing stroke,” said Legore Hodgins. “We are trying to make it more equal to what the boys do, and make it more like real golf. Stableford is a modification and we realized that the girls have evolved and should be playing golf as it’s meant to be played, and that’s what stroke play is.”

Girls will be playing by the 10x rule, that allows them to make a putt on 10 strokes, but if they go over 10, they put 10x on their score card.

That rule does not come into play at district or state.

Jackie Martin, a junior from MG, took third place with a 53.

“Jackie Martin is our number one and is also working in the golf industry. She works at Battle Creek Golf Course all year,” said Legore Hodgins.

“The other thing I’d like to mention is our number two junior Emma Beauchamp. She is new to the game but has been committed to lessons at the Columbia Super Range. Jackson coach Kevin Mackey has been helping her and it shows you how she is meant to play golf. She swam for our team for two years and she is a natural athlete, but golf is the sport she is meant to play. She comes from a strong golfing background. She played her first match of her life yesterday and she ended up tying for third. We are really excited.”

Beauchamp shot a 54.

“Emily Kelley, a junior who is playing third for us, has also been committed for a year and training with Dave Boivin, the head pro up at Kayak,” said Legore Hodgins. “He has been working with our team as a whole.”

Kelley took fifth place with a 55. Although the top three golfers at MG are juniors, there are other athletes showing lots of promise for the coming season.

“We have a sophomore, Kaitlin Oskam. She has also been doing lessons with Dave individually and with the team. She had one tough hole that ended up impacting her quite a bit during this match. We know we have to do a few things to help her find her game, and that’s practice. Senior Mikaela Schwartz has all that it takes to be an outstanding golfer. She and Kaitlin are very much the same level of golf. They need to work on their golf mind, and match their skills with their golf mind.”

Both Oskam and Schwartz shot 60 and tied for seventh place. Samantha Peterson of MG shot 67 and placed eighth.

This is the first time that MG and Marysville-Pilchuck have had separate 3A varsity golf programs, but it is a good thing for both teams.

“It makes it really fun. It’s fun for us to be able to share the course with M-P and also be able to work closely with them,” said Legore Hodgins. “We had our jamboree together and we can do JV matches together. We can help each other get better. It’s a good thing. We really want to thank the Cedarcrest Golf Course for making it possible that four teams get to practice there — M-P, MG, Lakewood and Grace Academy, both boys and girls. Dave Castleberry and his staff are fantastic support for all four of our teams. We also want to give a special thank you to Bleachers restaurant that accommodates all of us as well. The golf course community, including the golfers, the patrons and staff has been so supportive and fantastic in giving high school golf just the best start we could ever have to a season and, we want to say thank you.”