In 2001 the Dodge City High School girls’ golf team made history, becoming the first girls’ team at the school to win a Class 6A team state championship.
“It was a pretty special season,” DCHS head golf coach Jim Mapel said. “We finished fourth at state the year before, and I knew we had a good team and we basically had everybody back.
“We won our first tournament (of the year) and then we lost our second tournament up at Hays by about eight strokes, After that, I think the girls became a little bit more focused. They did not enjoy losing that tournament. We were able to just win every tournament from there on out. A couple of them were pretty close. It was just a pretty special season. The girls were real good competitors. They loved to compete and they loved to win and they were hard workers. They earned that state title.”
Since then, no other Dodge City team has won a state championship.
Tara Goedeken who was a sophomore at the time, who eventually won an individual title as a senior in 2003, said there was something special about winning a team title.
“To win as an individual is awesome,” Goedeken said. “But to win as a team is better because you get to share the experience. To win something big and share it with other girls that you traveled with is always a great feeling.”
The 2001 team featured seniors, Lindsay Dinker and Jenna Lewis, juniors, Kara Pick and Shelby White and sophomores, Goedeken and Haley Geis.
“We were pretty young really when we did it,” Pick-Purdum said. “It was pretty cool, we came and upset some of the teams. We just finished as a team strong, and everybody worked hard and we played real well together.”
Several of the girls on the team felt like they were underdogs in the tournament.
“I don’t think anyone at state expected us to win,” Goedeken said. “But we knew we had a good team. To be able to show that the girls from Southwest Kansas can compete was pretty special.”
Pick-Purdum agreed with Goedeken’s statement.
“We all expected it and we all knew we could do it,” she said. “We just proved to ourselves and a lot of people that did not think we could do it, that we could. I think that made it even sweeter.”
In nine years after the achievement, head golf coach Jim Mapel said each of the girls went off and achieved success.
Tara Goedeken is still golfing and trying to earn a spot on the Ladies Pro Golf Association Tour. She is currently competing on the Duramed FUTURES Tour, an LPGA developmental tour.
She said she hopes to qualify for the LPGA tour by placing high enough in the final stage at Daytona Beach, Fla. She said she thinks it would take a top-20 finish to qualify.
“I went last year to get my feet wet,” Goedeken said. “I have worked hard this last year and I feel this is my year.”
Goedeken is the only one from the state title team that is currently playing the sport in a professional manner, but others are still involved.
Jenna Lewis is currently living in Garden City and is the president of the women’s league at South Wind Country Club in Garden City where she said she plays golf at least once a week.
After graduating from High School, Lewis said she moved to San Antonio, and was working in real estate for five years. Lewis said she has came back to Southwest Kansas where she is currently living in Garden City with her husband Mike Shook and taking care of her two kids, Maddix, age 4, and 14-week-old Bradleigh.
Pick-Purdum had the top score of that state title team, taking sixth overall, however, she said she does not participate in the game that much anymore.
She said she is currently working as a nurse in the Kansas City area, but will soon be moving to New Jersey with her husband Tanner Purdum, who is a long snapper for the New York Jets.
Lewis said she tries in to stay in contact with her teammates using Facebook because they have spread all over the country.
The girls will be remembered in Dodge City as one of the most successful girl’s athletic teams in the history of Dodge City High School.
“It was a big achievement for us,” Mapel said. “Just to win a state championship is a very difficult thing to do. I have taken a lot of teams to state championships and I have seen a lot of good teams go through Dodge City High School, not just golf, but other sports too. And a lot of things have to go well to win a state title. When it first happened, it just doesn’t sink in right away. It was like we were excited and this and that, but I think you realize more latter on how special it is.”
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In 2001 the Dodge City High School girls’ golf team made history, becoming the first girls’ team at the school to win a Class 6A team state championship.
“It was a pretty special season,” DCHS head golf coach Jim Mapel said. “We finished fourth at state the year before, and I knew we had a good team and we basically had everybody back.
“We won our first tournament (of the year) and then we lost our second tournament up at Hays by about eight strokes, After that, I think the girls became a little bit more focused. They did not enjoy losing that tournament. We were able to just win every tournament from there on out. A couple of them were pretty close. It was just a pretty special season. The girls were real good competitors. They loved to compete and they loved to win and they were hard workers. They earned that state title.”
Since then, no other Dodge City team has won a state championship.
Tara Goedeken who was a sophomore at the time, who eventually won an individual title as a senior in 2003, said there was something special about winning a team title.
“To win as an individual is awesome,” Goedeken said. “But to win as a team is better because you get to share the experience. To win something big and share it with other girls that you traveled with is always a great feeling.”
The 2001 team featured seniors, Lindsay Dinker and Jenna Lewis, juniors, Kara Pick and Shelby White and sophomores, Goedeken and Haley Geis.
“We were pretty young really when we did it,” Pick-Purdum said. “It was pretty cool, we came and upset some of the teams. We just finished as a team strong, and everybody worked hard and we played real well together.”
Several of the girls on the team felt like they were underdogs in the tournament.
“I don’t think anyone at state expected us to win,” Goedeken said. “But we knew we had a good team. To be able to show that the girls from Southwest Kansas can compete was pretty special.”
Pick-Purdum agreed with Goedeken’s statement.
“We all expected it and we all knew we could do it,” she said. “We just proved to ourselves and a lot of people that did not think we could do it, that we could. I think that made it even sweeter.”
In nine years after the achievement, head golf coach Jim Mapel said each of the girls went off and achieved success.
Tara Goedeken is still golfing and trying to earn a spot on the Ladies Pro Golf Association Tour. She is currently competing on the Duramed FUTURES Tour, an LPGA developmental tour.
She said she hopes to qualify for the LPGA tour by placing high enough in the final stage at Daytona Beach, Fla. She said she thinks it would take a top-20 finish to qualify.
“I went last year to get my feet wet,” Goedeken said. “I have worked hard this last year and I feel this is my year.”
Goedeken is the only one from the state title team that is currently playing the sport in a professional manner, but others are still involved.
Jenna Lewis is currently living in Garden City and is the president of the women’s league at South Wind Country Club in Garden City where she said she plays golf at least once a week.
After graduating from High School, Lewis said she moved to San Antonio, and was working in real estate for five years. Lewis said she has came back to Southwest Kansas where she is currently living in Garden City with her husband Mike Shook and taking care of her two kids, Maddix, age 4, and 14-week-old Bradleigh.
Pick-Purdum had the top score of that state title team, taking sixth overall, however, she said she does not participate in the game that much anymore.
She said she is currently working as a nurse in the Kansas City area, but will soon be moving to New Jersey with her husband Tanner Purdum, who is a long snapper for the New York Jets.
Lewis said she tries in to stay in contact with her teammates using Facebook because they have spread all over the country.
The girls will be remembered in Dodge City as one of the most successful girl’s athletic teams in the history of Dodge City High School.
“It was a big achievement for us,” Mapel said. “Just to win a state championship is a very difficult thing to do. I have taken a lot of teams to state championships and I have seen a lot of good teams go through Dodge City High School, not just golf, but other sports too. And a lot of things have to go well to win a state title. When it first happened, it just doesn’t sink in right away. It was like we were excited and this and that, but I think you realize more latter on how special it is.”
