Shelby golfer earns top finishes while maintaining 4.8 gpa
During a July meeting of the county board of education, Cleveland County Schools recognized more than 400 student athletes to compete across the county this summer. County wide, athletes from 27 of 28 teams maintained a grade-point average above a 3, and several teams maintained averages above 4.
Among those teams recognized was the Shelby High School men’s golf team, which consisted of only one athlete, Barek Cardell, who finished the season with a 4.8 grade-point average, a player of the year award from the Southern Piedmont Conference, a place on the Southern Piedmont all-conference team and a 13th place finish in the state championships.
“He had a great year,” said coach Steve Hamrick. “The whole year was easy for me. Barek is so talented that there wasn’t much I could do besides just be there and be his supporter.”
Cardell, 17, said he’s been playing golf since he was old enough to walk, but has only become competitive in the sport since coming to Shelby. With no teammates to practice with, Cardell decided to look elsewhere to find practice partners outside of his regular sessions with Hamrick.
Cardell said he started playing games with Zach Byers, an alumnus of the Shelby golf program and current golf athlete at Gardner-Webb, and some of his teammates.
“I learned a lot from them,” he said. “It’s really more like a mindset thing with golf. It’s so much more mental than physical.”
Hamrick said those extra practices had a noticeable impact on Cardell’s game.
“It’s always better in golf to play with people who are better than you. You watch and you learn, pick up on little things they do that you can use and that can make you better,” he said.
In order to meet the demands of his practices and complete all of his school work, Cardell would work out before school, then practice from the time he got out of school until he couldn’t play anymore.
“I would practice whenever it was light outside. When it got dark, that was the time to go in and do homework,” he said.
Heading into his senior season, Cardell said he hopes to have a team around him to compete with. His ultimate goal, he said, is to improve his performance from last year.
“I was a little disappointed with how I played at state. Definitely had a great chance to win it, I just didn’t have my best stuff there that day,” he said.
Hamrick is also hopeful to field a full team this year.
There were eight students who played golf for Shelby Middle School last season who are set to come to Shelby High School this year.
“We hope some of them will come out this year,” he said.
Dustin George can be reached at 704-669-3337 or Dustin.George@ShelbyStar.com.
This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Shelby golfer earns top finishes while maintaining 4.8 gpa
