Those who know Calais High School senior Jennifer Robb well understand that becoming the 1993 state schoolgirl golf co-champion is a greater accomplishment than others could imagine.

Those same people know Robb’s goal this season was not to win an individual state golf title.

Her goal, explained Coach Tom Lynch, was “just to be as good as she could get. If that was good enough to win, anytime, then fine.”

Saturday, Robb will tee up in the state schoolboy team golf championship at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro.

Two weeks ago, in difficult weather and while playing a longer back nine than front, she came from behind to finish at 89 with defending state champion Samantha Sommers of Wiscasset and record just the second tie in the history of state schoolgirl golf.

Lynch called the feat “a fantasic comback” for Robb. The truth of it is, fantastic comebacks are par for the course for Robb. She has been making them all her life.

When she was 1, Robb was diagnosed with hemiplegic cerebral palsey, a mild form of CP in which the individual suffers paralysis on one side of the body.

Several operations helped lengthen the heel cord on her right leg so she could walk more heel to toe. Physical therapy followed the operations which ended when she stopped growing in the seventh grade.

Today, the right side of her body has less coordination than the left, but Robb does not consider that a problem. She simply works over, around and through it.

“I’ve never met a more determined female athlete,” said her tennis coach and sometimes golf partner, Lori Forst. “She just doesn’t quit.

“Jennifer has a great attitude about life in general which she carries through to sports. She’s a very nice young woman.”

When she was 10, Robb said, her aunt gave her granddad a set of golf clubs. A short time later, her father took up the sport.

Since dad was always on the course, Jennifer and her mother decided they should be there, too.

Robb learned to play left-handed, but her swing is somewhat unorthodox. Instead of pulling her swing through, she has to push it through.

When she has questions, she looks to Lynch, but both coach and athlete know, no matter what he says, she has to figure out what works best for her.

Lynch and his wife cared for Robb while her parents worked until she entered preschool. Their son, T.J. Lynch, is a classmate. The family was always concerned about her, especially when she returned from those operations in a cast.

“She never let it get her down,” Lynch said. “She never used having her leg or arm operated on as an excuse for anything.”

If she was going to be out of school for a while, she asked for assignments ahead so she would not fall behind.

What is most remarkable about Robb, Lynch said, is that she does not look at herself as having a disability.

Working with Lynch, Robb doggedly addresses the technique of the sport, played her way.

“I show her the mechanics of where the golf club has to be at a certain point in the swing to get a specific trajectory, and she adjusts to what she has to do to accomplish that,” Lynch said.

But more than her attention to the flight path of a golf ball, or her determination “to pretend you’re just like them and just keep trying your hardest,” what really makes Robb a champion is her overall attitude.

“She has a heart that’s as big as all outdoors,” Lynch said. “She is the last one to leave practice every single night. Her work ethic is fantastic.”

Last Saturday, Robb was six strokes behind Sommers with a 46 after the front nine at J.W. Parks which has four sets of tees – two for men and two for women.

The front nine was played from the forward ladies tees; the back nine from the forward men’s tees. With a strong wind and considerably greater distance to cover, Robb shot a 43.

She really “gritted down” Lynch said. “She told me, when she was two strokes down, `I’m not giving up for anything.’ She just kept attacking the course.”

When Robb walked off the course after those 18 holes, she had hugs for her mom and her coach. She had no idea she had tied for the championship.

Robb admitted that winning a state title this year was a surprise. Despite shooting an 82 earlier in the season, she felt she was in a bit of a slump. Intead of letting it get her down, she did just what she has been doing all of her life: she didn’t quit when she was behind, and she didn’t quit when the course and the weather got tough.

Jennifer Robb just got tougher.