Tucson Sahuaro senior Taylor Hughes is fresh off of a No. 9 finish at the Antigua National High School Golf Invitational this past weekend in Scottsdale and she helped lead the Cougars to seventh place in an impressive field of teams from Hawaii to Florida.

Hughes has been an important part of the recent Sahuaro success with a Division II team championship in 2013 and a second place finish last year. The one thing that has eluded her is an individual state championship.

Hughes finished in fourth place last year behind Kaylee Benton (Buckeye Verrado), Haylin Harris (Tucson Salpointe) and Desiree Hong (Sahuaro). Benton graduated and is now playing for UNLV.  Haylin Harris is competing in Division I this fall and Hong has also graduated. 

Even though Hughes has proven she has the skill to play with the best, the path for her and Sahuaro has become a bit clearer with Salpointe and Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep bumped up to D-I.

"Honestly, being a senior is so nice," Hughes explained. "Counting down all the things we will do for the last time and we have a great shot this year because we are the seniors now."

Sahuaro was a team full of sophomores when they captured the title two years ago but that experience is just another factor sure to make the Cougars favorites.

Hughes has a couple of great offers to play at the next level but for now she is focused on her team and this season especially since her sister Halley is now a freshman on the team and her mother Megan is still the coach.

Like Hughes, Harris also had a great weekend. Harris finished in 17th pace at the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Girls Championship held in South Carolina. It's all been part of a great season that included making the cut at the USGA U.S. Girls' Junior Championship over the summer.

"It was another great experience," Harris said. "The greens were the hardest I have ever played on and the competition was amazing."

Harris shot a 3-under-par 69 in the second round which was the second-best round in the field.

As indicated before, the Lancers are now in D-I with teams such as Phoenix Xavier, Notre Dame and Scottsdale Chaparral. As a freshman, Harris was four stroke behind Benton last fall but Harris sees the challenge of playing as something she will really enjoy.

"It will put pressure on me and I'm actually going to really enjoy that," Harris added.

NOTE

Salpointe hosted Sahuaro and Oro Valley Canyon del Oro on Tuesday at Randolph North in Tucson and Hughes finished with a 35 and Harris shot a 38. Sahuaro and Salpointe tied with a team score of 156 and The Dorados came in with a 207.