A girls golf team in Oklahoma was robbed of its rightful chance to compete for a state championship because of an epic goof on the part of its coaches: They simply got the wrong date for the regional tournament.
As reported by the Guymon Daily Herald, the Guymon (Okla.) High girls golf team was scheduled to compete in a regional championship tournament in Ardmore, an event which was first scheduled for Thursday but was then re-scheduled for Tuesday.
Somewhere along the line, that rescheduled date never got to the school's girls golf coaching staff, which failed to organize or prepare anything for the event. As a result, by the time the team learned that the event was to take place on Tuesday, they didn't have time to get there.
"Their hearts are broken. They're crushed," Randy Chase, the father of junior golfer Taylor Chase, told the Daily Herald. "They denied the girls the opportunity to compete at State or the High School All-Star Classic. Our coach and our AD thought it was Thursday.
"It was a mistake and it was a huge mistake."
While the mistake may have been honest enough, it also cost the school a realistic chance at a state tournament appearance. The golfers who were affected and their parents were scheduled to meet with district superintendent Doug Melton on Wednesday, though no reports from that meeting have become available as of yet.
In the meantime, Guymon athletic director Tyler Chapman essentially placed his girls golf staff off limits from the media, insisting that all requests were funneled through school administration.
Yet above Chapman in the school district's administrative order, other officials were decidedly less defensive, sounding a sincere note of disappointment at the way the school's athletes had been robbed of an opportunity to compete for a chance at a state title through no fault of their own.
"[The error in dates was a] tragic mistake. I think everybody regrets that it happened," Guymon assistant superintendent Mike Parkhurst told the Daily Herald. "The bottom line is the administration didn't catch this. This is a huge tragedy for our girls on the golf team. We regret the effects it has had on the girls on the team."
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