That is most evident when it comes to the golf team's top two players, seniors Juliann Papesch and Meghan Dean. The two have been fast friends the past three years, and that friendship has helped them develop into two talented golfers.

"I moved here my sophomore year because I went to Canton freshman year, and they called us "Butt buddies" because we never left each other's side," Dean said. "We also always had the same exact score or were one off, which was kind of cool, too.

Coach Jan Bowers has had the privilege of seeing the two develop not only as golfers but as friends, and she thinks there's a correlation between the two.

"Going back to when they were sophomores, Juliann knew me, but Meghan didn't know me at all," Bowers said. "The fact that Juliann was willing to go above and beyond what all the other players did, Meghan came right with her with the two being friends, and that's been an advantage to both of them. As long as two of them did it, they'd always be there. That's made quite a difference in them getting as good as they are.

"They can talk areas of the games that other players may not even understand since they're more advanced. They like to work together a lot and do different drills that they can specialize on. So that relationship has only made them better, and made things more fun for me."

Both golfers have shown considerable improvement since they've suited up for the Lady Railers. Papesch, who had never golfed before Bowers recruited her, has seen her nine-hole average go from 58.3 strokes as a freshman to 43.5 this season. Dean, in her three years at Lincoln, has dropped her average from 51.5 to 46.0.

"Both of them, in the years I've known them, put in extra time in the summer or after practice," Bowers said. "I remember coming back from an all-day tournament; we left at 7 in the morning and got back about 6 at night, and both of them weren't ready to go home. We went up to the range and were actually hitting golf balls in the dark, because those two weren't ready to leave.

The putting of the two is just as good. Dean's average has gone from an 18.7 over nine holes to a 16.4, and Papesch has gone from a 21.0 to a 17.5.

"They are our two best putters on the team, both of them hold records for nine and 18 hole putts for the high school," Bowers said. "Meghan is flat-out the best putter I've seen in Lincoln Community High School history.

Each had great seasons as juniors, garnering all-conference honors and qualifying for sectionals. Despite that success, neither rested on their laurels in the offseason.

"I tried to concentrate this summer on shooting low and scoring well," Papesch said. "I worked a lot on my driver and things like that, because that can be key. I went to the bowling alley a lot this winter to play the virtual golf to work in the offseason and that helped quite a bit."

"I worked a lot on my mental game because that wasn't very good at all," Dean said. "I didn't have the right focus. So, I worked on that and scoring low, and you can say that's helped."

There could have been problems coming into this season as Bowers tried to figure out which of the two to play at No. 1, but their friendship made things easy.

"You can have No. 1 and 2 players on teams that fight over that position and really want to beat the other, and that never happens with these two," the coach said. "They really could care less who plays No. 1 and who plays No. 2. They've never said a thing about it. I just put them down in positions that they are and they've never questioned it, and they're both rooting for each other."

"It's kind of weird this season," Dean said. "She'll do good, and I'll do OK. Then I'll do good, and she'll do OK. It goes back and forth."

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