LONDON — Chris Stone’s North Laurel boys’ golf team proved hard work does pay off.
After putting in a lot of blood, sweat and tears, the Jaguar golf team earned the program’s first bid to participate in the upcoming All-State Tournament.
“This team has spent the past three years working hard every moment they had practicing on the things they need to be better and to have a chance to be one of the best teams in school history,” Stone said. “Their goal this year was to get to All-State and improve on postseasons in the past. Getting to All-State means a lot to these kids and to me. It just shows that if you put in the work it pays off.”
It isn’t an easy road to get an All-State bid.
“Each tourney we play in is worth a 100 points if you finish first,” Stone said. “They take your top seven finishes toward All-State points, so a score of 700 points is best you can do. This team won 5 tourneys this year, finished fourth and seventh at our other events. That gave us a grand total of 625 points for 10th best. All of that while playing several loaded tourneys across the state. I tried to give them a few tourneys to compete and win and a few tourneys to play against the best and try to place in the top five. They accepted the challenge.
“This means a lot to the boys and to our school,” he added. “When I took over as golf coach our program was low on golfers and needed to improve. Now we have a program with 20-plus players and setting the bar high for the future by reaching levels our school has not seen as a golf team. That is really special. But all of that is because of the team and how special each one of the golfers are. I hope the rest of the team and the future players see what can happen if you work hard. It’s a great time to be a Jaguar golfer. Something our school will be proud of.”
