Walbring, Blue Devils look to regain spot atop WB6 and become girls golf regional contenders

QUINCY — While the Quincy High School girls golf team may not be the favorites to sit atop the Western Big 6 Conference throne, second-year coach Tommy Hosteng wants to at least give the other schools a scare.

“I want to challenge everyone else, give them hell,” Hosteng said.

Being the underdog is unfamiliar territory for the Blue Devils, who had notched seven straight WB6 championships and six consecutive regionals until finishing sixth in the conference tournament last fall and failing to advance from the Class 2A Galesburg Regional. 

“Last year was an adventurous one,” Hosteng said. “We started off having to build a lot of skills that weren’t there previously because we had a lot of turnover from the year before.”

This 2024 squad features plenty of new faces as well, but Hosteng expects a substantial leap forward, especially from those with returning experience.

Ashley Walbring is not only the Blue Devils’ second leading scorer from regionals, but their only senior. She also is the self-proclaimed team cheerleader.

“I love being able to influence others in a positive way,” Walbring said. “Being able to fill a leadership role is very important to me. I try to do that in everything I do. I just love to be there for the other girls.”

She even coordinated and created the team’s group chat on Snapchat.

“Sometimes it’s hard to know when practice is, what to wear, what uniform to wear when, what time to be at school to meet for tournaments, so I feel like having a group chat is so important for communication,” Walbring said. “At the second day of tryouts, I got everyone’s Snapchat, and I just took it upon myself to create a group chat so there’s no confusion or anything.”

There is no confusion about the mentality Walbring brings to the course either.

“It’s got to be her mental toughness, the grit that she has,” Hosteng said of Walbring’s greatest strength as a player. “She doesn’t let a lot bother her. She might have a moment where she gets a little emotional, but she reels it back in.”

Sophie Schlueter uses a similar positive mindset to maintain a level head even during struggles.

“I’ve never seen her get upset,” Hosteng said. “I’ve never seen her not smiling when she’s on the golf course. Even when she hits a bad shot, has a bad hole, has a bad round, she’s never negative.

“Attitude is a huge thing I try to coach. Attitude is one of the only things you can control in golf. She always has a positive, relaxed attitude.”

Schlueter, who posted the top score for the Blue Devils at last year’s regional as a sophomore, reminds herself from time to time that at the end of the day, all she is doing is playing a game. 

“I just try to remind myself to slow down a little bit, like at the end of the day, it’s not that serious,” Schlueter said. “Sometimes that’s my biggest thing. I will take it too seriously and I’ll get in my head about it. I’ll just remind myself that it’s a nice day out, we can just have fun.”

Bella Struck had to start from scratch as a freshman.

“It was rough,” Struck said. “The first day, we didn’t even keep track of what I shot on nine holes.”

Over the course of her first year ever playing golf, however, Struck went from not knowing how to grip a club to being the Blue Devils’ No. 3 player by season’s end.

“It was a struggle getting her going, but once we got her going, she excelled,” Hosteng said. “She did a lot of practice on her own at home, and I’ve seen the difference between her and people who haven’t done that.”

Now a sophomore, Struck has erased much of that learning curve.

“Over time, just practicing and hitting soft balls in the yard just to get the swing of things has helped,” Struck said.

Struck comes from a golfing family, but she hadn’t taken it too seriously until Walbring convinced her to try out for the Blue Devils last year.

“I had little kids clubs, they were plastic, and I’d just hit them, but definitely not anything serious until I decided to come out last year and try it out,” Struck said. “Ashley told me ‘come out and try it and see if you like it.’ I came out and it was rough the first couple days, but after some practice it got better.”

Even though he hails from Galesburg, Hosteng knows Westview Golf Course like the back of his hand.

“I played like five days a week this summer here, so I’ve got it memorized by now,” Hosteng said.

Hosteng and the Blue Devils will get to put that knowledge to the test when Westview hosts the Western Big 6 Conference Tournament on Sept. 25.

“Home course advantage,” Hosteng said. “We’re going to get a few practice rounds in and see if I can teach them some things around the course.”

Schlueter said this course knowledge comes in handy especially off the tee.

“It is definitely an advantage because like when you’re on the tee box, you can’t always see the whole fairway, so actually knowing the course, you can know what the obstacles are, where to aim to give you the best lie for the next shot,” Schlueter said.

Struck said even knowing one’s own tendencies on a course can impact a round.

“You know what’s coming up, where you should hit it, where you normally hit it,” Struck said. “That’s definitely something I’m looking forward to.”

Hosteng is looking forward to a chance to return the Blue Devils to Western Big 6 glory on their home course.

“We know where to miss, we know where to place the ball. We’ll have to see if it turns out,” Hosteng said. “You can talk a lot, but results have to matter, too.”

The Blue Devils begin their season Aug. 21 with an 18-hole tournament at Metamora Fields Golf Club followed by a home meet at Westview the next day and the Joliet Invitational on Aug. 24.