Inductees

In the late 1990s, with their daughter about to enter high school, Steve and Shelly Owens realized they needed to solve an issue.

At the time, a girls golf team wasn’t offered at Mount Vernon High School, and so they took their request to the school board.

“Our daughter wanted to play school golf and wasn’t allowed to play on the boys team back then,” Shelly said. “The school was receptive when we said we would fund the team at least four years. And, so we provided funding for a coach and for the program.”

No one knew it at the time, but it led to one of the most consistent stretches in the state’s rich girls golf history in the Show-Me State. And that success is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted the 1999-2015 Era of Mount Vernon High School Girls Golf with the Class of 2025.

Coached by Leah Clark (MSHOF 2025), the Mountaineers have earned a dozen Top 10 team finishes. That includes winning the state championship in 2002 and fourth-place finishes in 2000, 2011 and 2012.

The Mountaineers’ other Top 10 finishes were: fifth in 2001, sixth in 2005, tied for fourth in 2008, sixth in 2009, fifth in 2013 and seventh in 2014. Ashley Childers Barnes won it all in 2014.

The 2002 team not only beat Richmond by six strokes (708 to 714) but far outpaced the third- and fourth-place teams — private schools Villa Duchesne and Visitation Academy who likely had far bigger budgets.

The team included Tonya Choate McCall (MSHOF Wynn Award 2017), who went on to win an individual state title the next season.

“We were excited to begin the season,” said Daley Owens Alsip, the daughter of Steve and Shelly. “Many of the girls had never played in a competitive setting, so I think there were some nerves.”

And the nerves weren’t there just for the first match of the season. Most were aware of the significant historical perspective and that, given the opportunity, they needed to show well.

Mount Vernon asserted itself quickly. The 2000 team won districts and earned a fourth-place finish in Class 1. That team included Alsip, McCall, Stephanie Rice, Robin Miller, Sara Alshire and Heather Fletcher.

“Despite a few unexpected challenges – including getting thrown from a golf cart during the practice round and injuring my shoulder – we showed up with heart and determination,” Rice said. “Coming from a small, often overlooked public school, we had something to prove.”

Alsip and McCall both placed in the top eight, while Rice and Miller were within the top 75.

“One moment still sticks with me: on the second day, while getting ready for my putt, my putter accidentally tapped the ball and caused it to move,” Rice said. “No one saw it, but I counted the stroke. Coach Clark had taught us that golf is a game of integrity.”

The 2002 team won it all as McCall finished as the state runner-up. Alsip shot an 80-83 to finish fourth, her third top-five finish in three years. Rice led the way to the first-round lead, while freshman Valerie Melton bettered her score by 10 strokes and Natalie Estes bested her previous total by 15.

The boys golf team was there almost every step of the way.

“We’ve thought all along that both teams could win the state title, and we just did our part of it,” McCall was quoted as saying in the News-Leader.

The 2011 included senior Amelia Bramer Ballock, sophomore Lexi Farmer and freshmen Ashley Childers Barnes, Hailee Dudley Thompson, Hayley Bowles Besch ad Megan Pope Queisert. A torn knee ligament over the summer prevented Ballock from golfing until late in the season. Ballock won districts, and the team won districts and sectionals

“Once I was finally released, we really caught fire because those underclassmen kept improving throughout the season,” Ballock said. “They were playing against older girls who may have had more experience, ultimately that made them better.”

The 2012 team included Bowels, Childers, Dudley, Farmer and Megan Pope. That team won four regular-season meets and used the momentum for a solid state finish.

Childers was the state runner-up the next year and immediately set a countdown clock on her phone for 2014. She won state by three strokes, tying the state scoring record for a par 72 course.

“Clark developed us from sixth grade to high school,” Childers said. “For a town without a driving range and nine-hole course without a bunker, we did well.”