Garden’s Savolt repeats POY honor
When the 2025 fall girls’ golf season was over, Garden City High School coach Chris Duncan was already looking ahead with great anticipation to the 2026 campaign.
There was a good reason for this optimism.
The Lady Buffs, who had won their second straight Western Athletic Conference title, had also just made the second day cut at the Class 6A state tournament and placed sixth among the 12 qualifying teams.
He had the top two players back on the links between seniors Brooke Savolt and Ailynn Anderson. Those two had finished 1-2 in the WAC Player of the Year race as juniors.
Duncan’s optimism was affirmed as the Lady Buffs won the WAC championship for the third consecutive year and in each of the other WAC tournament sites, they prevailed. The one-day championship at their home course, Buffalo Dunes, was simply putting the stamp on the regular season.
Savolt and Anderson repeated their 1-2 finish in the WAC, with Savolt averaging a career best 75.2 (second lowest in school history) with Anderson not far behind.
However, it takes four scores to count in high school golf team competition, and Duncan had several more experienced players at the 2026 season approached.
The remaining seniors who played an integral part in the team’s success were Megan Burr, Breckyn Lucas, and Lakyn Warren. Junior Emerson Huber was the sixth player at the start of the season, and freshman Makenna Long progressed to the point where she was inserted into the varsity lineup halfway through the season.
The group of seniors had stayed together all four years, and the patience and hard work paid off handsomely with a regional title and then placing third at the 6A state tournament to bring home the program’s fourth trophy (3rd place or better).
“I recall a lot of potential when they were freshmen,” Duncan said of his group. “They came in together, they worked together,and I didn’t really know what they could do. But they just kept improving each year, so it’s nice to see the reward of what they accomplished this year.”
Each of the seniors saw improvement in their respective abilities, and it was Savolt and Anderson who carried the flag in most tournaments. Burr also saw big strides in her game resulting in lower scores. Lucas, Warren, Huber and Long were the group that completed one of the deepest teams in 6A this fall.
“Brooke was pretty steady all season,” Duncan said of Savolt, who was named first-team all-state by the Kansas Golf Coaches Association. “Her confidence grew from her summer golfing,and it just carried through the fall season.”
Savolt recently committed to playing golf next year at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla., an NCAA Division II school.
Duncan said Anderson had several excellent rounds this season, with only a couple of higher scores as she averaged right around 80 strokes for her 18-hole scores.
“She worked equally hard to improve her game, and it showed in her scoring,” Duncan said. “I thought Breckyn improved more her sophomore to junior year, but she still was right in there making a contribution.”
It was Burr, though, who saw the most improvement during her four-year career. As a freshman, she averaged 114, then dropped it to 100 for her sophomore season. As a junior, she averaged 97.9 and this year knocked 10 shots off her average, compiling an 87.5 average with a career low of 81.
“Megan was at the golf course almost every day and played in the summer tournaments, and her hard work certainly paid off,” Duncan said. “Makenna was our wild card at the end of the year. She really came on and we needed her score. It was a good decision to promote her to varsity.”
In addition to Savolt being named first team all-state by the KGCA, Anderson was chosen to the second team and Burr was an honorable mention selection.
Garden’s Savolt makes it twice as nice as WAC Player of Year
Even before she became a freshman in the fall of 2023 at Garden City High School, Brooke Savolt had made the decision on which sports she would compete.
Despite her mother Melissa’s background coaching volleyball, the younger Savolt opted to play golf in the fall and then focus on track and field in the spring.
It was her grandfather, Merle Henry, who took Savolt to the golf course when she was younger and she immediately felt a kindred spirit with the game.
“I think I’ve always felt more comfortable with individual sports than the team sports,” she said. “I started playing (golf) when I was 7 or 8 years old and just liked it from the beginning.”
The game didn’t come together immediately for Savolt as she averaged 89.36 in her freshman season and both her and the Lady Buffs didn’t qualify for the state tournament.
She then began taking lessons from Buffalo Dunes Golf Course head professional, Jason Hase, and the work she put in paid off when she moved into her sophomore season.
In addition to dropping her scoring average by 8 shots (81.15), she and the Lady Buffs qualified for the state tournament. While the team didn’t make the 6-team cut for the final day, Savolt did play as an individual, She had rounds of 80-83–163 to finish 18th and earned a top 20 medal.
Additionally, she posted a career-low 2-over-par 74 at Buffalo Dunes in winning the GCHS Invitational.
“From my freshman to sophomore years I learned how to control the ball better and I didn’t have as many blow-up holes as I did the year before. I worked really hard to improve the mental part of the game.”
In her junior year, the scoring average continued to go lower, this time averaging 79.54 for the 11 rounds in which she competed. Repeating her sophomore season’s effort, she won two tournaments outright. She tied for first in another.
The Lady Buffs’ team made the Day 2 cut at the state tournament, placing sixth, and Savolt repeated her 80-83–163 scores to place 11th individually. She was an honorable mention all-state selection by the KGCA.
“I think it was kind of a struggle my junior year,” Savolt said. “I didn’t shoot the lower scores that I’d hoped for, but I think I was just a little more consistent. I worked really hard on my short game (approach shots/putting).”
The more improvement a player makes to get scores into the 70’s, the harder it is to improve on a percentage basis, most golf experts explain.
That, however, did not deter Savolt as she lowered her 18-hole stroke average to a career best 75.2 including a pair of 71’s at Dodge City’s Mariah Hills Golf Course and back home at Buffalo Dunes with her 1-under-par 71.
“Everything was just better,” Savolt said. “I hit my driver well all year and my wedge play was much improved.”
Savolt said she bought a new set of irons in the summer and it proved to be a big adjustment for her.
“My summer got off to a rough start as I played right after track season and had not really practiced much,” Savolt said. “I switched from graphite to steel shafts and it took some time to figure out how to hit them. Once I did that, I was so much more consistent with everything.”
It paid off as her highest score was an 80 on a windy day in Liberal. All the remaining scores ranged from 71 to 78.
“I think I was just a lot calmer golfer,” Savolt said. “I read a book that helped me a lot with the mental part of the game (Golf-Not a Game of Perfect).”
By competing with some of the state’s best players during her senior year, Savolt saw her game rounding into top form. She beat Wichita Southeast’s Alina Lam in a playoff in Dodge City. She then beat eventual state champion Maddie Myers of Manhattan at the 6A sub-state tournament.
In her two days at this year’s state, she posted rounds of 78-76–154 to tie for sixth individually and lead her team to a third-place finish, marking just the fourth time in program history that the team brought home a trophy. The team’s 334 on Day 2 at Firekeeper Golf Course was the low team score that day.
“I think we proved to everyone that we were one of the best teams in 6A this year,” Savolt said. “It was a rewarding season in so many ways.”
With her commitment to Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla., Savolt can now make plans to continue her golfing career at the next level. She will begin some winter training for track and field where she plans to compete in the long jump, triple jump and the 100-yard hurdles.
Her future academic plans include pre-med, where her options will be a doctor or a nurse.
Western Athletic Conference
2026 Girls Golf Championship
at Buffalo Dunes Golf Course/Oct. 8
| SCHOOL | SCORE | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garden City | 331 |
| 2 | Hays | 403 |
| 3 | Dodge City | 476 |
| 4 | Liberal | 478 |
| 5 | Great Bend | 479 |
First Team All-WAC (Coaches Vote)
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | CLASS | SCORE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brooke Savolt | Garden City | Sr. | 77.7 |
| 2 | Ailynn Anderson | Garden City | Sr. | 82.1 |
| 3 | Megan Burr | Garden City | Sr. | 87.5 |
| 4 | Makenna Long | Garden City | Fr. | 91.6 |
| 5 | Kinley Pfannenstiel | Hays | Jr. | 91.4 |
| 6 | Breckyn Lucas | Garden City | Sr. | 93.6 |
Coach of the Year — Chris Duncan, Garden City
Second Team All-WAC
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | CLASS | SCORE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Brooklyn Koerner | Hays | Sr. | 99.8 |
| 8 | Lakyn Warren | Garden City | Sr. | 101.9 |
| 9 | Giana Schumacher | Hays | Jr. | 103.1 |
| 10 | Sammy Fleming | Great Bend | So. | 108.0 |
| 11 | Ivy Harmon | Dodge City | Sr. | 109.6 |
| 12 | Scarlett Carr | Liberal | Jr. | 112.3 |
