Both Greenwood High School golf teams participated in the 5A West conference golf tournament at Mountain Home’s Big Creek Country Club to determine which league teams would move on to represent the conference in the 5A state tournaments in October. Only the top three schools qualify for state in boys and girls play, but other golfers qualified to compete as individuals at their respective state tournaments.

For the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs, the results were mixed, with the GHS ladies finishing third and making the cut for state, while the Greenwood boys finished in a tie for fourth place, missing the mark by four strokes. However, senior Everson Adams did qualify as an individual and will play in the state tournament at Hot Springs.

At Big Creek, the same course where they began their season in early August, the Lady Bulldogs finished third overall, led by Cambree Shrum with an 18-hole total of 90 strokes. She also placed fourth among her conference peers. Teammates Journey Clements, Jordin Jackson, and Addi Phonepradith also competed, carding scores of 106, 113, and 130, respectively. The top three scores were counted toward the team total.

For the Greenwood boys, Everson Adams fired a round of 76 to finish sixth overall and lead his teammates to a fourth-place tie. Jackson Cole carded an 82, Dean Hogeland an 83, and Dace Drennan a 102 to round out the scoring for the Bulldogs. The top four boys’ scores are counted toward the team total.

The Greenwood varsity girls’ golf team then competed in the state golf match hosted by Greene County Tech High School at Paragould Country Club on October 1st. The GHS girls finished 10th overall with a team total of 305. Cambree Shrum carded an 85 while Journey Clements fired a 101. Jordin Jackson shot 119 and Addi Phonepradith shot a 126.

“The girls improved every match and had a great season,” said Head Coach Ryan Casalman. “All of these girls will be returning next year and will be looking to improve on this season's finish.” The team is also expecting the arrival of a few more girls next season to improve the number of golfers competing for varsity playing time and to build the program for the future.

Russellville blew away the competition and won the girls’ state tournament by a huge margin of 35 strokes with a team score of 209 compared to second place Greene County Tech (244). Little Rock Christian and Hot Springs Lakeside both shot 246 with Benton coming in fifth at 254. Mountain Home, another 5A West conference member along with Greenwood and Russellville, finished ninth at 296.

A week later, on October 9th, Greenwood’s top male golfer, Everson Adams, traveled with Coach Casalman to compete in the 5A boys’ state tournament at Hot Springs Country Club. The senior qualified to compete as an individual based on his elite performance in the 5A West conference tournament held earlier this month at Mountain Home.

At Hot Springs, Adams shot an 18-hole total of 80 and finished tied for 15th out of 72 golfers. That performance mirrored what he did as a junior in the 2023 state tournament at Alma’s Eagle Crest course when he finished 15th with an 18-hole round of 79.

While the Bulldogs failed to qualify for state this season as a team, three other 5A West conference teams did finish in the top ten statewide. Those schools were Harrison (3rd), Mountain Home (7th), and Russellville (8th). Little Rock Christian (291) and Benton (308) finished first and second, respectively. The GHS boys will lose three seniors to graduation, including Adams, but have six juniors and two sophomores returning next season plus whatever new players try out for the team.

This was the first season that Coach Casalman had led both squads, previously coaching the boys only. The popular GHS coach was also recently promoted from junior high head boys basketball coach to become the head coach of the varsity Lady Bulldogs basketball team. That change was necessitated when James Halitzka unexpectedly resigned the position after being hired last spring to replace the retiring Clay Reeves.

Halitzka cited health concerns as his reason for stepping down from a position he claimed was his dream job as recently as late June. He also wanted to make the decision to leave before the season started to avoid handicapping his players with a coaching change mid-season. Fortunately, Coach Casalman was already on the basketball staff and previously coached girls basketball for 13 years at County Line High School. So, good luck Coach Casalman.