Press release
The Athens Christian Preparatory Golf team recently placed second in the two-day, 36-hole Texas Christian Athletic League State Golf Championship held at Plum Creek Golf Club in Kyle, Texas. The four players that represented ACPA were freshmen, Austin Rainwater, Connor Rainwater, Dalton Duke and sophomore Kyle Smith.
Team sponsor Ronnie Rains thought going into the season that the team had a good shot of doing well.
“Even though we have a very young team we set the team goal of winning the State Championship,” Rains said. The Storm almost pulled off that feat with consistent play from all of its members. The Rainwater brothers tied for fourth place overall with a score of 179. Smith scored 217 which was good for 12th place and Duke pulled out a top-30 finish with a score of 249. The Rainwaters were also named to the eight player TCAL All-State Team.
According to Rains, Coaches Kell Daniel and Dion Duke have been instrumental in the teams development and success this season during practices at Athens Country Club.
“We practice every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and sometimes Saturday,” Austin Rainwater said.
“Really we practice any chance we get,” his twin brother Connor added.
Both Rainwaters earned close to the best scores of their lives. “We were just having fun hitting the ball well and enjoying playing with the players from other teams. The kids that won were seniors and juniors while we are freshmen and we were just a few shots behind,” Austin said.
“Our expectation for the next few years is to ultimately win a State Title. We move into TAPPS (Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools) next year, which means stiffer competition,” Rains said, “but we played a tournament in Waxahachie earlier this season that include six TAPPS teams that will be in our district next year and we beat them all.”