Charlotte Catholic boys golf: A season of resilience
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — We caught up with Charlotte Catholic golf coach Shawn Panther fresh off the heels of the NCHSAA state golf championship. “We didn’t play as well as we’d hoped,” he says. “We’d won state the previous four years in a row, and this year we placed fifth.” Still, the season ended with many successes to celebrate. “We got the lowest score in Mecklenburg County, which is something to be proud of; there are so many great teams here.” This season, Charlotte Catholic won conference for the 5th straight year, and won regionals with their best round of golf they’d had all season—five under par. The team also took home first place in the Carmel Invitational—beating out 15 other qualifying high schools.
In addition to the team’s successes, Coach Panther is especially proud of two seniors who are going on to play golf in college. Stephen Shea is headed to Carnegie Mellon in the fall, and Luke Guthrie will be attending the Savannah College of Art and Design on a full scholarship for golf. “I’m just so glad they have this opportunity, and that golf helped them get there.”
When asked how he would describe this year’s team, Coach Panther summed it up in one word: resilient. “Two of our best players (including Stephen) ended up tearing ACLs playing church league basketball. That presented us with some adversity. It was really neat for me to see other players growing into leadership roles, and younger players stepping up to reach the standard set by the previous years.” With that kind of leadership among the underclassmen, we look forward to seeing what the Charlotte Catholic golf team does next season!
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