Junior Quinn Henry capped off the H-F boys’ golf team’s season of remarkable improvement last Saturday.

Henry qualified for State in Bloomington, where he shot an 87. He was honored to represent H-F golf in such a huge moment.

“I was really excited to make it as a junior. It was a fun experience,” Henry said. “It was really fun to represent the school.”

As for the team as a whole, they finished third in their conference, third in Regionals and qualified for Sectionals. Head Coach Chris Stiglic is proud of his team for the impressive turnaround in 2019.

“We’ve been better than expected. It was nice to see how we progressed throughout the year.” Stiglic said. “The biggest improvement by far is his putting. He stays in the moment, and he doesn’t give strokes away.”

Henry couldn’t afford to give any strokes away on his way to State as he qualified by one stroke. He credits his success to working on his game in the off-season.

“All the work I put in the off-season came out when I was playing under pressure, so that really helped. Getting a little bit stronger and hitting the ball farther gave me a bigger advantage against the field,” Henry said.

“As the year progressed, you could see all the hard work has paid off. He worked his tail off all summer. He worked countless hours on the golf course, and it goes to show hard work pays off,” Stiglic said.

Henry appreciates his individual qualification for State, but as the off-season is upon them, one big goal for next season is for the team to qualify for State.

“I have big confidence in the team. I’m excited to see what scores we put up, and I’m looking for a top-10 finish in State next year,” Henry said.

The 2019 team dealt with a lot of adversity. The 8-player roster is one of the smallest the team has had in the 21st century, and they’ve lost a total of seven seniors in 2017 and 2018.

Even with those burdens on them, the Vikings still managed to have the success that they had. Now they look to build on that success and go even farther in 2020.