SEQUIM — In her four seasons at Sequim, Wolves girls golfer Alex McMenamin piled up the individual and team accolades.
McMenamin won four Olympic League MVP awards and led the Wolves to a 32-1 league mark, with just a four-stroke defeat to Olympic this past April separating Sequim from a four year run of perfection.
Along the way McMenamin earned four top-10 finishes at the state 2A tournament, placing third as a freshman in 2014, ninth as a sophomore, fifth as a junior and sixth in her senior season.
This year, McMenamin posted a 35.82 scoring average in league play, a score below the common par of 36 for nine holes.
She also won her third consecutive Olympic League tourney title this spring, edging teammate Sarah Shea by a single shot.
For all these reasons, McMenamin is the All-Peninsula Girls Golf MVP for the fourth consecutive season as picked by the sports staff at the Peninsula Daily News and area coaches.
Posting a below-par scoring average checked off the primary goal for McMenamin’s senior season, she said.
“I wanted to average par or under par, so I achieved that one which was pretty cool,” McMenamin said.
McMenamin achieved her lowest nine-hole score of her career, a 4-under-par 32, in a home match against Port Angeles and North Kitsap at Cedars at Dungeness in April.
“I suppose shooting 32 was pretty cool, it always feels pretty good to shoot low,” she said of a round that featured five birdies and one bogey.
“That’s my best nine-hole score ever.”
McMenamin focused on her short games’ short game during her senior season, working to turn close putts into gimme putts.
“I think I focused on putting, especially on 5 feet and in,” McMenamin said.
“Being confident on those and eliminating three putts — that helped get my scoring average down. I hate the feeling of a three putt or missing a 4-footer. It just feels gross.”
She enjoyed seeing the continued improvement in the game of her practice partner Sarah Shea and said having some competition at practice was a bonus.
“Yeah I think it definitely helped me,” McMenamin said. “It was nice to have a little extra push, nice to have someone to practice with. We could kind of spar together, it was definitely fun. It’s been awesome to watch her improve so much and really cool to have her at state the past two years.”
McMenamin said her final few holes during the state tournament at Indian Canyon were memorable.
“And ending state, the last few holes were pretty emotional. It was nice to end the season in Spokane with Sarah and Gary Kettel, our coach, and end it on a good note.”
McMenamin will continue her career at NCAA Division III George Fox University, playing for a program that finished second in the country at the DIII national championship last month.
As solid in the classroom as she is on the course, McMenamin, who would like to study medicine, said she made her decision on the strength of two factors.
“The golf team has been successful and they also have a really good pre-medicine program and a good admissions rate for medical school,” she said.
McMenamin said plenty of people helped grow her game throughout her high school career.
“Definitely thank you to Gary because he donates so much of his time to the team and would always come up with good practice routines that would help me improve,” she said.
“And he was good at keeping my nerves down at tournaments. He helped me think less about my score.”
She thanked Jeff Coston, a PGA pro with a lengthy list of Pacific Northwest tournament championships, for helping her work on her swing.
“I’m hitting the ball a lot crisper, especially with my irons and that really stood out,” McMenamin said.
“He helped me with my mental game, helped me not get too attached.”
And she thanked her parents, Richard and Shari McMenamin, for all the long trips to practice and play the game and for their support.
McMenamin should have plenty of chances to continue to make them proud at George Fox.
