Hope Gillespie has the distinction of being one of a kind.

The Ponca City High School senior is among the scores of senior athletes at Po-Hi who have had their final season erased by the COVID-19 pandemic. But she is the only senior on Coach Wendy Landes’ girls golf team.

Gillespie, a daughter of Cheryl Gillespie and Joseph Gillespie, has been playing golf since the sixth grade, “Since I was able.” She was introduced to the sport by Coach John Spore, who at the time was the head girls’ golf coach for Po-Hi. Her older sister, Kaylee, was a member of Spore’s team and one day at a team practice session, the coach invited the younger Gillespie to hit some practice shots. The experience got her interested and she stayed with the sport.

She has been playing competitive golf since the eighth grade and has been a member of the Ponca City varsity all four years of her high school experience.

“I was really good in eighth grade,” she said. The competition was greater in high school, but she has been at least “fifth bag” most of her high school career, meaning that she participated in most tournaments.

She was looking forward to competing her senior season.

“I was really excited for this year. I thought I would do really well,” she said. In the one event the Po-Hi golfers had before the season was suspended was the Ponca City Invitational. she scored a 93 in that event, which had been her lowest score the year before.

“I was disappointed,” she said about the suspension of sports activities. “I really don’t know how I feel about it yet. For sure it was definitely bad timing for seniors.”

Regarding her future plans, she said she has applied to attend the University of Oklahoma. “I might go to NOC (Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa) and get my basics. Or maybe move somewhere and get a job for awhile.”

She said her thoughts now are attuned to a possible career in criminology.

Her inspiration for playing golf has been her sister Kaylee and Coach Spore. Her advice to younger players is to stick with golf.

“Golf is a good sport to get your feelings out,” she said.