Girls’ golf history was made earlier this week when Greene County junior Rachael Danielson played in her second straight Class 4A State Tournament. The high school in Jefferson has only been known as Greene County for five years, so Danielson being the first golfer from Greene County HS to play at a State Tournament is one thing. Much more than that, however, she’s the first female in the 55 years of girls’ high school golf in Jefferson to play in two State tourneys. Elaine Waples in 1964-65 qualified twice, but played just her junior season State Tournament because of illness after qualifying as a senior.

What’s more, Danielson placed eighteenth as a sophomore and earlier this week was sixth (tied for fifth, but was placed sixth using the card back tie-breaker) at the Elmwood Country Club at Marshalltown. No one else in the history of the program here has done that. “It’s pretty cool, honestly! My freshman year I really never realized I would do this well. I never thought about it, but now that it’s here, it’s pretty good to be the best female golfer that Greene County’s ever seen! All my hard work’s starting to pay off.”

Danielson said this year she felt more like she deserved to be there, as opposed to her sophomore season. About the Elmwood course, she had this to say; “The course was most definitely the hardest course I’ve ever played in my life. Flat out! It was the hills, it was extremely tight, extremely wooded, and the greens were impossible to read.” Despite those obstacles and being in her own words mentally exhausted at the end of the second day and “running on less than fumes,” she birdied her final hole, the par four fifteenth by chipping in from so far out she couldn’t even see the pin. “That was quite a way to cap off my junior year!”

Heath Telleen is the Rams’ girls’ golf coach. Both he and Danielson are already looking forward to 2018.