Lancers golfer Alaina Roland is headed to the state championship. She finished fourth at the All-Catholic team championship, comfortably inside the top six needed to qualify. A tie for second pushed her to fourth, and the finish also earned her All-Catholic honors, which go to the top eight.
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Roland admits the round wasn’t her best. “I was shooting very well, but my putting was not very good,” she said. Still, punching her ticket to States hit differently than she expected.
“It felt different when it happened instead of just thinking about it,” Roland said. “Before, I was like, oh, this is normal, I should do this. But after, I was like, wow, this is pretty cool. I get to go to States.”
From the parking lot to the starting lineup
Roland’s road to States started almost by accident. She played field hockey as her fall sport until she needed a new one. A few weeks before her freshman year, her brother took her golfing, and she surprised herself. He told her she was good enough to try out for the boys’ team, since there was no girls’ team at the time.
Tryout day nearly didn’t happen. “I got there, and in the parking lot I started crying because I didn’t know anybody,” Roland said. “I didn’t think I could do it.” Her mom wouldn’t let her turn back: “Alaina, you really need to go do this. We know that you’re good enough to play.”
She went, and in her first nine holes she beat a senior and a junior in her group. She expected to be a practice player. Instead, she started every match her freshman year and played in the team championship. As a sophomore, she qualified for the individual championship against the boys.
A girls team of her own
This season, SMHS was able to field a girls golf team. Roland takes some pride in having helped pave the way. “As soon as I heard that there’s a girls team, I was like, wow, this is great, knowing that I kind of started something,” she said. “It’s much better to be on a girls team because there’s more to talk about.”
The adjustment wasn’t seamless. Her first match was at Cazenovia Park, and the fairways and greens weren’t what she was used to. She even asked her coach about returning to the boys’ team to play better courses. Her coach talked her out of it. “She was like, ‘Alaina, I don’t think you should do that, because you can actually win stuff with the girls,'” Roland said.
She stuck with it. After a strong start and one tough match, she bounced back and qualified for States at the championship at Elma Meadows.
Three sports, one goal
Golf is Roland’s third sport, behind hockey and softball. She has never had a swing coach, and she says her approach comes straight from the softball diamond: hit it as hard as she can.
States aren’t until May, so she’s taking a few weeks off from golf. Hockey season is getting underway, and her softball team plays year-round. “It’s hard to balance school, golf, hockey and softball,” she said, “but I just do my best with whatever time I have.”
Fourth place left her both happy and fired up. She had beaten the second-place finisher earlier in the season. “I’m just a very competitive person,” Roland said. “I’ve played sports my whole life and I hate losing.”
To get ready for May, her coach will become her swing coach, starting next month. Beyond the results, Roland is looking forward to walking a full 18 holes at States with her coach by her side.
“Just to learn from her and be able to walk the course with her, have her walk me through every shot, and see what it’s like to be a real golfer,” she said. “It’s honestly just for fun for me.”
Go Lancers!