It’s a rare scene in collegiate athletics, especially in a sport like girls golf, to have two players who are from the same school. Well for St. Mary’s of the Woods, the Lady Pomeroy’s can say they have four former Southmont Mounties on their team this season. Juniors Bailey Thompson and Erin Williams enter their third season with the Pomeroy’s and they welcome incoming freshman in Macie Shirk and Bailey Barker as the former Mounties are now all once again re-united.
Thompson and Williams have become the focal points of the Pomeroy program and last season helped St. Mary’s earn a bid to the United States Collegiate Athletic Association where they both earned Academic All-American status.
Southmont girls golf has always been steady force in the county and area for that matter and now the Mounties can say they have four former players playing on the same team, an accomplishment that current Southmont girls golf coach Bill Whalen isn’t taking for granted.
“It makes it even better for our program since we are a smaller school,” Whalen said. “To see four former girls who are able to go on to place college golf, let alone on the same team is outstanding. It goes to show what hard work and dedication can accomplish. I knew that Erin and Bailey would be very successful because I knew they would work their tails off. You combine that with the talent that they had and someone working with them on a daily basis year-round, the sky is the limit for those two.”
Kyle Miller took over as the head coach of the Pomeroy’s last spring and has seen both Thompson and Williams change the culture of the program during their time with the Pomeroy’s over the last few seasons.
“They’ve been an absolute god-send for the program,” he said. “They’re both co-captains and are all-around good ambassadors for our team. They really were the ones who let me know about some of the other girls from Montgomery County. Their leadership and just a good word of mouth is what has allowed us to have this many girls from Crawfordsville.”
In addition to Thompson, Williams, Shirk, and Barker, former Crawfordsville standout Bailey Mittal is also with St. Mary’s making the final tally of five Montgomery County girls with the team.
With having five girls from the same county who already know each other, St. Mary’s is already starting off it’s season with great team chemistry. The personalties allow the team to have fun while enjoying their successes on and off the course as Thompson explains.
“My first year we only had 3 golfers on campus but this year we have 10 out of the 11 on campus so that brings us closer together,” she said. “This allows us to do off season workouts together too. Our rooms are really close together which allows us to spend lots of quality time together like eating meals, working out, and doing homework together.”
Williams added that both she felt it was important to bring both Shirk and Barker to St. Mary’s because of the talent that she knew both of them had.
“I knew that they were good golfers but I also knew they were great people with good attitudes,” Williams said of her former Mountie teammates. “I felt like it was important to bring them to St. Mary’s because they would bring some fresh new attitudes to the team. I thought that St Mary’s would be a good place for them to not only get a great education but also improve their game and help improve our team and the internal competition which would only make all of us better, and I think we are already starting to see that progress.”
It’s not just on the golf course where the four Mounties and Mittal succeed. Last season both Thompson and Williams had 4.00 grade point averages and the team had the highest GPA of any sport at St. Mary’s with a 3.62. That is something that Miller isn’t taking lightly and it just as proud of that his girls are excelling off the course as well as on it.
“Bailey Mittal is nursing major and she’s maintained a 3.7 to 3.8 GPA so what is nice to see about these girls is they don’t mess around in the classroom,” he said. “Then when you look at us on the course, at least on paper, this should be the best team we’ve had in a very long time.”
At their first meet of the season last weekend, the team lived up to Coach Miller’s hype as they broke the 36 hole school record by seven strokes by shooting a two-day total of 672. All four Mounties made the six person cut. Williams shot a 167 with Thompson carding a 174. Making their Pomeroy debuts on the links Shirk recorded a 185 and Barker ended with a 181.
“For Macie and Bailey to make the impact they have right away is once again a testament to their work ethic,” Whalen said. “Much like Bailey Thompson and Erin, they just continue to work and practice when no one is watching. I saw Bailey Barker out on the practice range countless and she works her tail off and she really started to get going in her junior year. With Macie everyone knows how great of an athlete she is with her playing softball and her work ethic is un-matched.”
For the current Mountie team and for many of the area girls in the county, they can now look and see that there are five girls on the same team and if they so choose, could go on to play at the next level. While it may not be at St. Mary’s these five can be used as the example for where hard work and dedication to perfection can lead.
“We talk about that all the time with our girls,” Whalen added. “There are a ton of scholarship opportunities out there for girls who want to go play at the next level. We’re also talking some pretty good money as well. We’re using these girls as the example not only to our girls at the high school level but also on the junior high team too that if you put in the work and the time, you can find yourself playing at the next level.”
What makes the play of specifically Thompson and Williams even more impressive is that their first year at St. Mary’s they had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. They weren’t able to practice and play like they normally would and was never able to get into an off-season routine. With that well in the rear view mirror, Thompson talked about their practice routine and what it takes to be a collegiate athlete.
“The first year with the COVID challenges it wasn’t easy to play at the next level,” she said. “I admit it was a little overwhelming at first especially with my class schedule then I got into a routine and realized it is only going to help me as an individual and our team. I’ve kept this routine all summer long adding at least 36 holes a week and workouts in the gym so I am excited to get the season started. I also enjoy going back to our local golf courses over the summer and catching up with all of the people that have supported me throughout my golf career. Of course I couldn’t do any of this without the support of my family and friends.”
Being the leaders of the team come with extra responsibilities for Thompson and Williams. However they’ve both embraced the challenge and have thrived in doing so. They still have the rest of this season and their senior year before their time is up with the Pomeroy’s, however their impact has already left a lasting legacy that has transformed the program. For Williams she compares this situation to a when she first began her high school career with the Mounties.
“My very first year was the first year Southmont had a girls golf team in a few years and myself along with Bailey and the other girls on our team really created a program that would outlast us,” Williams said. “Here at SMWC, both Bailey and I came into an established team that had few members and saw a great opportunity for growth. Being able to be an ambassador the SMWC Women’s Golf Team gives me that sensation that I’m creating an environment and mindset on this team that will hopefully outlast my four years.”
Only time will tell what the future holds for not only Thompson and Williams, but Shirk, Barker and Mittal as well as the five Montgomery County girls are all seeing success with St. Mary’s. Who knows? Maybe another Montgomery county girl’s golfer or two might join them here in the near future.
Girls golf has always been a thriving sport here in the area for many years. These four Southmont girls and Mittal are making sure they represent Montgomery County in the best way possible.
