There were plenty of positive layers to Greater Beckley Christian’s golf season in 2025.
It was about perseverance. It was about history. It was about building. It was about winning.
The Crusaders won their first regional championship and played in the state tournament for the first time since 2002, creating memories they’ll always carry.
“It had been 23 years since Greater Beckley had done that, so that was awesome for the kids and the community,” said head coach Mickey Carr. “It made them feel good about what they’d accomplished.”
They did it all with a young team, only two seniors in Eli Gunter and Paul Fox. Gunter was the only senior among the four who played in the state tournament. Yet the young group put it all together.
And to think, it almost never happened. They went into the season with the possibility of not even having a season.
“We didn’t have any expectations. We actually didn’t even have a team the first week of the season,” Carr said. “There was no coach.”
Administrators Justin Arvon and Jeff Graham approached Carr, whose son Max was going to be a freshman at the school, about becoming the coach. Carr accepted and got to work.
“I happily did that, but last year was really (about) can we even get enough matches in for the kids to be eligible to play in regionals?” he said. “That was the focus last year.”
The rest is history, literally. The Crusaders won the Class A Region 3 championship, holding off Webster County by five strokes for a trip to Wheeling more than two decades in the making.
Three golfers from that region-winning foursome are back, including sophomores Max Carr and Iziah Gordon. The other is junior Collin Howell.
Carr said Gordon has improved and shaved three to four shots off his nine-hole score.
With improvement often comes discomfort. Such is the case with Max Carr, who ran into problems at the Crusaders’ first match, the West Virginia Army National Guard WVGA Invite.
“He’s my son and we play every weekend, and he’s played great all summer,” Mickey said of Max. “Then two weeks ago at Glade Springs he got that nasty ’S’ word that we never talk about in golf — the shanks. I think he was one or two over par through four holes and then he just started hitting it sideways. That just comes out of nowhere.”
He has been working with local pros to get all of that straightened out.
Howell is in a similar situation, currently working on a grip change.
“He’s a baseball player and has been trying to swing a golf club like a baseball bat,” Carr said. “We’ve got him with (local pro) Landon Perry changing his grip and that’s really uncomfortable for him right now. He’s hitting some great shots and then some not so great shots.”
Taking the fourth spot is junior Levi Hicks. Carr said Hicks, like Gordon, is shooting lower scores than this time a year ago.
The rest of the roster is made up of players who are “kind of new to competitive golf,” Carr said, in senior Carter Hajash, junior Jordan Jesse and freshman Logan Hicks, Levi’s brother.
Nate Wall joins Gunter and Fox in not returning from last year’s team after moving to Tennessee.
With an experienced team back, the focus remains on continued improvement through mechanical adjustments and situational practice in order to be ready for another trip to Wheeling.
“We’re just going to try to focus on getting better and all the things we’re going through right now — swing changes, grip changes,” Carr said. “I’m just telling the kids we want to do well every time we come out, but it’s not about winning today. It’s about what we do (at regionals) on October 5.”