Logan Heath is an ASU Cronkite school of Journalism student assigned to cover Betty Fairfax High School for AZpreps365.com

PHOENIX -- Betty Fairfax defeated South Mountain, 203-243, in a dual meet on Monday at Aguila Golf Course. 

The Stampede’s Harper Swope finished the regular season strong as he took medalist honors with a 7-over-par 43.

Despite finishing first, Swope did not feel satisfied or that this match gave him any momentum going into the playoffs. 

“It was not a qualifying score,” he said.

Although it was not his best round of the season, Swope was satisfied with his improvement during his senior year. 

“Today was tough,” he said. “Last year was tough, too. I did not play that well and did not care as much. But this season I put in a lot of time months before in the offseason and during practice, which definitely helped me this season.” 

 The Stampede’s Owen Stroop also performed well, finishing just two strokes behind Swope with a 45. Brayden Martinez, also of Betty Fairfax, finished third with a 55. 

Stroop felt he struggled despite playing on his home course.

“I felt like I could have done more because this is usually where I shoot my best,” he said.

Stroop also emphasized his strengths and weaknesses on the course.

“My drives and my woods are definitely my strong suit,” he said. “My irons are getting better but my putting and chipping could use some improvement too. 

Stampede coach Chris Hazelton discussed the ups and downs of the dual meet 

“It was a tough match,” he said. “We were missing a few of our top guys today. We also had no practice on Friday because of the weather and then jumping right back in on Monday was a struggle. But it gave an opportunity for the guys that normally don’t get to play in matches to come out today and get some experience. Overall, it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horrible either.” 

Despite the frustrations that came during the meet, Hazelton was satisfied with the team’s performance from start to finish this season.

 “I’m happy with how we played overall,” he said. “We improved on last season by a considerable amount of strokes in terms of stroke average every match.Even though we had some days like today where we didn’t play to our full capability, we had some other matches where we did play that way and had lower scores than last year, so that is a success in my book.” 

As the team heads into the postseason Hazelton also emphasized what the keys to success will be. 

“Going into the tournament we talk a lot about playing each shot for shot and focusing on the moment,” he said. “The key is not thinking too far ahead and not ruminating over bad shots that happened in the past alon,g with just trying to hit our best shot every time.”

Betty Fairfax and South Mountain will play in the Phoenix Union Tournament on Friday at Encanto Golf Course.