YORKTOWN, VA (WTKR)- If you watch Grafton compete in golf this season, you may notice something unique about the Clippers.
They're finding their stroke this season and their recipe for success is Girl Power.
"Golf, of course, in the state of Virginia is co-ed," Grafton head coach Jim Bowling pointed out. "Of my 13 kids on my roster, eight of them are girls."
"When we show up to tournaments, it's six girls or four girls and then the rest of the boys," Clipper sophomore Lillian McDermott noted. "It does feel a little bit different, but it's really nice."
Bowling says that most teams have no more than one or two female members, with a majority of rosters made up of male golfers. Grafton's female players are not just on the team, they're showing they belong on the same course as their male counterparts.
"They're all good," Clipper senior Blaine Griffin stated.
"My top three players are the girls," Bowling added. "We've been finishing second, third in the district out of ten teams."
With eight females taking their swings for Grafton, some opponents may have overlooked the team early in the season, but the Clippers say that does not happen very much anymore.
"I think at the beginning of the season for sure, but after the first couple matches, they started getting worried," Griffin said of some other squads.
"I think if they did, we're proving that we're up there, too," added McDermott.
The team is finding its stride as the season goes on. Grafton, be it the girl or boy players, are making the Bay Rivers District pay attention and the Clippers believe their best golf still has yet to be played.
"The big thing in golf is to get to the regional, finish in the top two and make it to state," Bowling noted. "We play in a tough region."
"We're sitting there hanging with the defending state champions, Jamestown, to five strokes," Griffin pointed out. "I definitely think we have a good shot at it."
"I'd really like it if we could go to states this year," McDermott said. "We have to beat either Jamestown or Great Bridge and I think that the track that we're on we could do that, definitely."
Grafton is back in action on Wednesday when the Clippers tee off in a tournament at Lafayette.
If you have a nominee for Esprit Decor Student-Athlete of the Week, email marc.davis@wtkr.com.
