Feature: Mariemont Girls Golf, A Team of One

We tend to not think about golf as a team sport, but at the high school level that's exactly what it is. Unless of course, you are Mariemont Sophomore Laney Hurt. Hurt is currently the only female varsity golfer at Mariemont High School, a fact that forces Hurt to play all of her matches alongside Madeira High School athletes.

Mariemont Athletic Director Tom Nerl was able to work out a deal with Madeira that allows Hurt to go to matches with Madeira and compete with their girls team, but still record her score under the Mariemont name. The only downside is team golf works off of four individuals scores combined so Laney by herself doesn't qualify for any victories. To her though, being around the appropriate competition is all that really matters. "Playing with the boys just wasn't doing it for me, it was fun it just wasn't the competition I needed."

Good luck to Laney Hurt in the sectional golf tournament today pic.twitter.com/rTLXCeKkTh
— Tom Nerl (@mmontad) September 28, 2020

Hurt has been around the sport of golf for most of her life "I come from a big family of golfers, my grandpa plays, and my dad plays, and my cousins all play too." Playing golf is one thing, playing it competitively is another. Hurt got serious about golf in the eighth grade and hopes to parlay her competitiveness and strong abilities towards golfing at the next level. "With the level I'm at right now I think I have a chance to play golf in college…my dream would be UNC Chapel Hill, and a realistic choice would be Auburn University."

With Covid-19 impacting so many sports seasons, an individual centric sport like golf has thankfully only gone through minor changes to ensure the season was played as scheduled. This is what Laney Hurt has appreciated the most during the pandemic. "I feel like coronavirus hasn't really impacted golf all that much and it's honestly just made it a little bit easier to focus and just go out and play golf."

Hurt will be the first one to tell you a lot of time and energy goes into the golfing part of her life, but everyone needs something to help them decompress and for Hurt that comes via running and hanging out with friends.

Laney Hurt definitely seems to have the right attitude and determination, especially for someone so young, and with two more full seasons of high school golf and two summers of lessons mixed in, I wouldn't count out Laney fulfilling her dream and making it to Chapel Hill North Carolina.

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Players Mentioned

Laney Hurt: Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Laney Hurt
: Sophomore