Fast Track

That’s right.

 

Before the spring of 2023, Collegiate’s girls had no team of their own. Those who played the sport competed alongside the guys.

 

The interest was there, though, and a founding group of 16 golfers coached by Amy Verdi took to the links, finished with a 5-4 record, and competed in a girls invitational (rather than championship competition) sponsored by the VISAA, the governing body of independent school athletics in the commonwealth.

 

Fast forward to 2025, when the VISAA officially sanctioned girls golf.

 

The Cougars, now coached by Mark Palyo and assisted by Mike Peters, finished 6-9 in regular season matches and seventh among eight entries in the inaugural state championship tournament.

 

This past spring, the Cougars made a seismic improvement. After losing their opening match to eventual state champ St. Paul VI (152-165), they won 11 straight, at one point earned top ranking in the VISAA poll, and ended the year with a runner-up finish in the state tournament contested May 12 at the Williamsburg National Golf Course in Yorktown.

 

The Panthers (Chantilly) led the way with a 72-hole score of 332. The Cougars were 15 strokes back followed in order by St. Catherine’s, Episcopal, Norfolk Academy, Cape Henry Collegiate, New Covenant School, and Virginia Episcopal School.

 

Ellis Pace and Addy Mukherjee tied for fourth with rounds of 81 and earned All-State (top 10) honors. Winnie Van Deusen (88, tied for 11th) and Anika Kolanu (99, tied for 29th) rounded out the Cougars’ scoring spots. Pace, Mukherjee, and Kolanu are 8th graders. Van Deusen is a junior.

 

“It’s incredibly impressive for young people to compete on that kind of stage where there’s nowhere to hide,” said Shep Lewis, golf program leader, of the girls team’s state tournament performance. “It’s your shot and your performance. Whether it’s 8th graders or girls who are relatively new to the sport, we’re really proud of the commitment and maturity they’ve demonstrated.

 

“Golf is such a mental game where you can’t let a bad shot derail an entire round. You have to move on quickly. The state runner-up performance reflects the maturity of this young team. We’re excited about our girls program. We’re just thrilled with the way they’ve started their journey.”

 

The Cougars earned their success because they had talent, bought into the process, and found meaning in the team experience.

 

“Once they make the team, we as coaches then have to prepare them for competition,” said Palyo. “That can be anything from some swing changes, definitely some grip changes, and, for some, understanding what the swing plane is. I’m better at reading the greens and closer chip shots. Mike (Peters) is good with the longer fairway shots. Austin (Ernst, a professional golfer who joined the staff on a part-time basis this year) is good everywhere.”

 

Then there’s the mental aspect of the sport.

 

“Going into the year, we gave them three things to build on: commit, execute, accept,” Palyo said. “Commit to the shot they’re going to take, execute that shot to the best of their ability, and accept the result of that shot whether it’s good, bad, or indifferent. Mindset was something we really tried to develop.”

 

The results, tangible and intangible, were gratifying.

 

“I saw a lot of camaraderie among the girls,” Palyo said. “They really enjoyed being with each other. And our kids gained more confidence. It was great to see their growth as players as the year went on.”

 

Palyo, who serves as Upper School Dean of Students, has also coached varsity track and field and, from 2007 through 2022, varsity football. He thought his coaching days were over until the girls golf coaching position opened.

 

One day in the fall of 2024, he mentioned his interest to Andrew Stanley, Collegiate’s athletic director, and had a subsequent conversation with Lewis. About six weeks before the 2025 season began, he signed on for his third varsity head coaching gig.

 

“Being involved after school is another realm of knowing and working with young people than what we do during the day,” Palyo said. “There was part of me that asked, Can you do an afternoon again? The answer was yes, so I went for it.

 

Palyo, who considers himself a recreational golfer, picked up the game in the early 1980s when he accompanied several University of Richmond football teammates to the old Oak Hill Golf Course on Patterson Avenue near its junction with State Route 288. He still plays occasionally, usually with his son Jake, a 2011 Collegiate graduate who serves as a guidance counselor at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford County.

 

His handicap?

 

“My game is my handicap,” he said with a laugh. “I’m a 100 golfer. I’m OK with that. It’s a lifetime sport. I play for fun.”

 

And he coaches for the love of coaching.

 

“Even if the girls are coming in as great golfers, getting them to play together and for each other at the right time takes work, chemistry, team dynamic understanding, and flexibility as the leader,” Stanley said. “To be a successful and competitive varsity football coach as a former lineman in a football environment and then, a few years later, be a successful and competitive girls varsity golf coach with a number of young athletes speaks to the quality of the coach at his core.”

~Weldon Bradshaw