Lainey Jackson has had a lot of honors playing for the Seymour girls golf team.

This fall, she was all-Hoosier Hills Conference, a sectional medalist and named to the academic all-state team.

She also has been named The Tribune’s Jackson County Girls Golf Player of the Year for the second straight season.

Her nine-hole low for her career was a 36 on the front nine at Shadowood, and her tournament low was a 76 in the Seymour Invitational this fall.

“I really like Shadowood,” she said. “It’s a difficult course if you don’t know it. I’m out here all the time playing it, so once you know it, you know where to hit it and how you need to play it. It’s a nice course. They keep it in really good shape.”

Owls coach Jim Hoffman said he believes Jackson is the first back-to-back sectional champion ever at Seymour High School.

Jackson said it was a nice honor to be named academic all-state.

“I’ve got to work just as hard out on the course as I do in the classroom,” she said.

Owls coach Jim Hoffman said from where Jackson started her freshman year to where she is now is amazing.

“She has worked hard, and she has come so far,” he said. “She has good work ethic. You can do anything you want to as long as you put your mind to it.”

Jackson said she began playing golf in sixth grade. She played on the middle school team for three years and then earned four varsity letters at SHS. She played the No. 3 position her freshman year and moved up to the top spot her sophomore year and held it the rest of her career. She was HHC honorable mention her junior year.

“I just really like how golf is mostly an individual sport,” she said. “You have a team with you but have to focus on yourself and push yourself to get better.”

Jackson said she enjoyed having her teammates support her.

“They can support you, but they can’t go out there and play the game for you. You have to get better yourself,” she said.

Jackson said coaches Hoffman and Brian Tidd were really supportive of her and the team.

“They were always there to help me,” she said. “If I needed something and it was like a Saturday, they would ask, ‘Do I need to come out there and help you?’ They were always there to help me if I had problems or was struggling with something.”

Jackson said playing on the Indiana Golf Association junior tour for four summers also helped her become a better high school player.

“You get a lot of diversity with the courses and playing with different people, and that gives you different competition,” she said. “You have to pay to play in those tournaments, so they’re all good golfers.”

Jackson said she enjoyed playing in the 18-hole high school tournaments.

“Because if you have a couple of bad holes, it’s not going to ruin it like one nine-hole match. You have time to improve on the back nine,” she said.

Jackson’s favorite tournament victory was winning the sectional this fall by beating Chloe McFaddin of Bedford North Lawrence in a playoff.

“I had never played in a playoff before, so that was really interesting, a new experience,” she said. “A lot of people don’t like Otis Park because it has hills everywhere, so it’s a hard course, but I just like that course because I do so well there. I knew it was sectional time and that I had to do good to support my team.”

Jackson will continue her golf career at Indiana University East in Richmond.

“The coach there is really nice and he is really supportive, and I know a couple going in there and they’re nice,” she said. “The whole program is really supportive, and they find a way so you don’t fail there.”

Other members of the all-county team are Liza Stuckwisch and Katie Cottrill of Seymour and Gracie Reynolds and Emma Hughbanks of Brownstown Central.

Stuckwisch, a senior, averaged 102 in the tournaments with a low score of 94, and her low nine-hole score was 46. She was named to the academic all-state team.

Hughbanks, a senior, averaged 55 for nine holes and 105 for 18. She was named to the all-Mid-Southern Conference team.

Reynolds, a junior, averaged 47 for nine holes and 97 for 18. She was named Brownstown’s most valuable player and was named all-MSC.

Cottrill, a sophomore, averaged 103 in the tournaments with a low of 96, and she averaged 47 for nine holes.

Abby Schroer, a sophomore at Brownstown Central, was named all-county honorable mention. She also was all-MSC and averaged 56 for nine holes and 113 for 18.