The Comets Girls Golf Team placed 12th at the 2025 OHSAA Division I Girls District Tournament at the Tanglewood Club last Thursday, Oct. 9.

This tournament was the first time since 2022 that the team qualified for Districts.

Senior Serena Wu, a player for the team who was runner up in the State Tournament at Firestone Country Club in Akron, has gone to Districts as an individual for the past four years, but this year was the second time she has gone to the tournament with the team.

“Everybody was excited,” Wu said. “Kind of nervous, but excited.”

The tournament, originally scheduled for last Tuesday Oct. 7, was moved to Thursday due to issues with flooding on the course.

Senior Samantha Miller, who scored a 92 at the event, said that moving the date of the tournament improved morale.

“Everyone was really anticipating that they were going to do well, and it was gonna go good,” Miller said.

Despite the date change, the already difficult course remained slightly damp, which made it more difficult to play on, Miller said.

Damien Kopkas, a math teacher at SHS and a coach for the Girls Golf Team of almost 20 years, said he was impressed with the girls’ ability to tackle the challenge of the Tanglewood course.

“[Conditions are] a little unique to [golf],” Kopkas said. “If you’re on a basketball court, the hoops are the same height no matter where you go.

“But, something like golf can be very course specific whether or not you have a good day or a bad day.”

Kopkas encouraged the girls to practice as much as they could to have a better performance, with many seeing improved results in their scores.

“We played at Tanglewood twice this year, and I wanted to do better than I had done the last two times…and I [did],” Miller said. “I was happy about that.”

Additionally, tee time, which dedicates the order in which players compete, had an impact on how they prepared for the tournament.

“I spent a good while on the range because I [had] the last tee time at our school,” Wu said.

To ensure best results in the tournament, Kopkas said he took time choosing the team’s roster for the event.

“The nice thing about golf is that it’s stat driven,” Kopkas said. ”But, my job consists a little bit of [determining] who I think will be able to perform best on any given day.”

Five girls from the team attended the event: Serena Wu scored 70, Samantha Miller scored 92, Alexis Brown scored 99, Kaidi Wang scored 106, and Rowan Kavanagh scored 103.

Despite many strong players leaving for college, Kopkas said that the team has a good foundation of underclassmen to build on for future years.

“[The girls] got a taste this year of what it is to qualify as a team for Districts,” Kopkas said. “Hopefully that will drive them in the off season…[to] try to repeat that again next year.”