A very happy accident

Some accidents are meant to happen.

Mackenzie Gogolin was a dedicated softball player, and she didn't envision that ever changing during her youth and prep athletics career. But those plans were altered when she blew out her knee while playing softball, ultimately forcing reconstructive knee surgery before she ever reached high school. It was a painful experience that changed everything.

"I knew I didn't want to go back to softball because I didn't want to go through that again," she said.

She knew that high school athletics were still on her radar. Lucky for her, Barry Wallin was her teacher freshman year. He began bringing up golf -- and what the heck, she gave it a shot.

"I thought, 'Well, you never know,'" Gogolin recalled.

She made the first-team JV her freshman year and everything took off from there. Gogolin continued improving while kindling her love of the game. Now, after her final spring with the Irish, Gogolin will move to the next level and play golf at Minot State.

It was a sudden but pleasant surprise.

"I never really planned on this or made it a goal to play collegiate golf. The opportunity was kind of unexpected," she said. "I knew I wanted to go to Minot. I met the coach and he was great. He reminded me of Barry."

Barry Wallin is Rosemount's 22nd-year head coach, who has seen many talented girls move on to play collegiate golf, especially in the past several years with Betsy Wallin, Emily Anderson, Becca Eggers, Kiley Nuernberg and Becca Swords, among others.

Part of Rosemount's success stems from the growth at their cornerstone junior club run out of Emerald Greens. Gogolin had not been a part of that club before her freshman year -- she only golfed with dad and grandpa, her original mentors.

Now, she teaches younger players there.

"I know what to look for now after learning from Barry," said Gogolin, who is solid with her irons and strengthening her drives and short game. "I know how to fix people's swings and that helps myself, too."

"Yeah, I get to work, but I'm also doing what I love to do," she said.

That's what Wallin enjoys most about her: Passion. It's one of the reasons she and Flynn are team captains this year.

"Mackenzie has been very instrumental as a person who really transfers that passion for the game to the younger kids," Wallin said. "She's put in a lot of work and hit a lot of balls late into the evening. It's a thrill to see her have that passion and drive to want to play at that next level."

Gogolin said JV coach Ryan Harrison taught her golf fundamentals, while Wallin and the rest of the coaching staff taught her how to love the game.

"That just brings your game to a whole different level, because it's one thing if you know how to play it, but if you know how to play it and you really enjoy playing it, it's a lot more fun," she said.