Newest Patriot

Whitley County’s Kayla Peace has seen her dream come true. The senior golfer signed to play for the University of the Cumberlands the next four years on the golf course.
Peace has achieved a lot of first at Whitley County and has set the pace for future players. As a sophomore, she was the first female to go to state in girls’ golf as an individual at Whitley County.
In her junior year she helped lead the Lady Colonels to their first ever trip to the state golf tournament as a team. The team returned to state this fall, becoming the first team to ever go to state back to back.
Peace’s accomplishments continued as she was named Player of the Year for the 16-18 Pepsi Junior Tour this summer.
Cumberlands golf coach Bill Sergent said. “”We’ve been interested in Kayla for a long time and we are tickled to death that she has decided to continue her education and golf career at Cumberlands.”
“With players like her we are hoping to get our women’s program back to where it was in the late 90s and early 2000s when we went to five straight national championships,” said Sergent.
“Kayla has really developed over the last year and wining that Pepsi Tour Player of the Year really gave her a lot of confidence,” Sergent said. “She played well this fall and the 78 she shot during the regional tournament was a very very good round. That golf course plays extremely long and it was evident by the scores of the other girls that it was played extremely tough that day.”
“That was a tremendous round of golf that day,” he added. “I don’t expect her to shoot that everytime she tees up but it gives us one really good player in hopes of getting a really good recruiting class and get things back on the track.”
Sergent said he hopes to sign a couple of other players from the area in the near future.
Kayla had the opportunity to play her career for her dad, Junior.
“As a coach, I am extremely proud for our program here at Whitley County High School. Last year we had two seniors that had golf offers and opportunities to play at the college level,” said Peace.
“I would certainly hope that each of our three seniors for this year have the same opportunity. This not only helps our school with recognition, it helps our golf program for the younger golfers.”
“Parents benefit from this as well,” said Peace. “Our parents invest a great deal of money in their children, in hopes of receiving a golf scholarship.”
“From a father’s aspect, her mother and I are extremely proud,” he said. “She has worked very hard since her 8th grade year, and the only regret we have is that we didn’t start her earlier. It seems as though, she got better each year she participated. I feel as though she is fulfilling a life long dream in playing golf at the University of the Cumberlands.”
“Her mother and I and many family members have attended and graduated from Cumberland College, now University of the Cumberlands,” said Peace.
“Bill Sergent, golf coach at the University of the Cumberlands, has been a big inspiration to my daughter. She has told me from the very beginning of the season that she wanted to play at Cumberland. Therefore, her dream has come true,” Peace said.