Golf’s Annabelle Reyna inducted into her middle school’s Wall of Fame
Annabelle Reyna enjoyed an eventful first year as part of the revamped women’s golf team. She was not only part of a successful season with the Saints, she received news that she would be part of the inaugural Harris Athletics Wall of Fame as announced by Joel C. Harris Middle School in the San Antonio Independent School District.
The Saints began competing in 2008-2009 but fielded a full squad just one additional year before the university disbanded the sport. Ten years later, OLLU made the decision to reinstate the team in 2020-2021, and three student-athletes encompassed the squad. This past year, Head Coach Arnie Martinez successfully recruited a full squad of seven, including Reyna, and the team competed in eight tournaments. The Saints won two of those tournaments.
The team finished out the year at the Continental Athletic Conference meet in Riverside, Iowa, and placed third out of five teams. Reyna’s score was the second-best on her team and eighth overall out of a slate of 25 golfers.
The first-year Saints’ golfer began playing the sport at Harris, which is located less than five miles from the OLLU campus. She was her school’s first district golf champion in 2016 and 2017. She was also the first student to play seven sports, and she did so in her seventh and eighth-grade years. The seven sports she played at Harris include volleyball, tennis, cross-country, soccer, basketball, track and golf.
She went on to attend Luther Burbank High School from 2017-2021, where she participated in golf, swimming, track and water polo throughout all four years. At Burbank, she also excelled in golf, taking the championship in 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2020-2021, along with being a regional qualifier in those same years.
Reyna credits her middle school coach Kathy Gonzalez for laying the groundwork for her golf journey. “I first met her during my seventh-grade tennis session, when she came up to me one day near the end of the season,” Reyna explained. “She said, ‘you have a very nice tennis swing; you need to play golf for me!’ I joined golf that upcoming season, and I fell so in love with every part of the sport that I joined again in eighth grade.” Reyna knew she wanted to continue playing in high school in order to have opportunities for college.
OLLU Golf Head Coach Arnie Martinez commented, “I was made aware of Annabelle because of an email that she sent me. In that email, she did a very good job of describing herself and her passion for golf. She was a top student in her class and was interested in becoming a student at OLLU. When I met her, it was even more evident how much she liked to compete on the course and in the classroom. She has been a great addition to the team. She works hard and has fun. Her game has improved both semesters. She’s a pleasure to be around, and it’ll be fun to see what she does in the future.”
Reyna’s results from the past season are as follows:
- Lady Bulldog Classic at Texas Lutheran University, tied for 26 overall out of 54 golfers
- Fall Queen of the Hill Country event at Schreiner in September, tied for fifth among 25 golfers
- University of Houston-Victoria Fall Classic, ninth place among 24 golfers
- Spring Queen of the Hill Country at Schreiner, 11th place among 20 golfers
- Schreiner Shootout, 16th among 36 golfers
- Grand View Battle of Paiute in Las Vegas, tied for 24th place among 89 golfers
Reyna will begin her second year in the fall as part of the Saints team. She is majoring in business management. She led the team this year to win the coveted OLLU Top GPA Team of the Year, an award they share with women’s soccer. Both teams boasted a 3.51 GPA, and Reyna marked a 3.8 for the year.
