Strong late-season play even as she battled a long-term foot/ankle injury helped convince Westminster College women’s golf coach Alex Kueker to invite 2024-25 Chillicothe High School senior Caylee Anderson to join the Fulton college’s 10-players program on scholarship next school year, an offer Anderson gladly officially accepted in mid-November. Despite the injury sustained while competing in soccer, but not fully diagnosed until during the fall golf season, Anderson produced a scoring average of 97 shots per 18 holes, third-best on the team. However, once the extent and nature of the injury was recognized and she began wearing a walking boot while continuing to compete, she put together a big finish to the 2024 CHS season. She was match-medalist in the team’s last two dual matches and then, placing fifth personally, paced the team to its runnerup finish in the district tournament that sent the Lady Hornets to the state tourney as a team. She also was the eighth-place individual finisher in the Midland Empire Conference Championships and a top-10 medalist at the Smith-Cotton Classic tournament at Sedalia and told the C-T her goal before starting her college career is “to improve on my putting skills.” Said Kueker, “Caylee’s what you want as a coach, someone who is dedicated to the sport.” Not having been recruited until her season ended, Anderson, who stated an intention to major in nursing, remarked that, after visiting the school, she was attracted by its “smaller” campus, saying she “fell in love with the place.” On hand for her signing of her scholarship agreement were her parents, Jennifer and Anthony. (PAUL STURM/C-T PHOTO)
