Washington girls golf in contention

Washington girls golf coach James Lampkin caught Alyssa King’s eye as she stopped off the green on hole four.

Rolling by in his golf cart, Lampkin held out four fingers to his junior and Washington's top golfer at the Class 2A state tournament on Thursday.

She nodded, confirming to her coach that she had finished the hole with a par.

“That’s the way,” Lampkin said. “You just keep grinding.”

Washington finished the day at Aqua Canyon Golf Course in Guthrie with a team score of 379, good enough for third place after the first day of team competition.

In the three years he’s been the head coach, Lampkin has helped lead a resurgence in the Washington girls golf program. After making it as a team in 2009, Washington had only had an individual qualify in the years since.

When Lampkin took over in 2015, he only had one golfer on the team, then sophomore Shaellen Flora.

The cupboard bare, Lampkin went recruiting within his school, pestering girls to give golf a try.

“Why don't you all come out and help,” Lampkin said. “We ended up with a team, missed state by three strokes.”

The Warriors finished fourth overall in 2017 and are in contention again this season as they are lead by King, a junior, and Flora who is now a senior.

“It was stressful when it was just me,” Flora said. “We got some girls but it was hard because everyone was so new.

“But coach helped mold us and get us where we wanted to be”

With his five-girl squad, Washington has done some damage this year, including winning the regional last week and now looking for a state title tomorrow.