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Editorial: Rough start, strong finish
Op-Ed · June 08, 2017


In golfing terms, the 2017 season started in the rough, but finished on the green.


The season started in March with boys practicing and playing at Cedar Valley Golf Course and girls practicing and playing at Elks Lodge Golf Course. The teams also had permission to practice at the closed West Branch golf course, though the course had not been mowed.

A few weeks later, in April, husband-wife team Jerry and Tammy Sexton secured an agreement with the local golf course owners, mother-son team Pamella and Rick Sexton, reopening the course as Cedars Edge and allowing the teams to return for both practice and home games.

The mowers came out.

The coaches — from head coaches Jan O’Neil and Randy Sexton to assistant coaches Angie Miller, John Walsh and Jason Miller — offered much thanks to the management of Cedar Valley (also known as the Badlands) and the Elks Lodge, and, of course, Jerry and Tammy Sexton, for helping support the high school teams in another transition year.

Switching from course to course is a mix of blessings and curses. On the one hand, exposure to different courses gives players a more-rounded experience and increases their ability to handle hazards and difficulties of opponent courses. However, in a tight conference, home teams have an advantage with one home course, and a low score in competition, or an outright win, may give players that cherished confidence that could provide the edge in the post-season.

The girls team, in the words of O’Neil, saw “terrific progress.”

The varsity team had the happy difficulty of deciding who should fill its top six slots as several players’ averages were just a few strokes apart. Many players rotated in for varsity experience and, by the end of the season, the varsity six cut its team score by 24 strokes.

The girls junior varsity, battling it out to see who would bump into the varsity rotation, did even better, cutting 42 strokes from its collective average.

But the team coalesced by season’s end, finished in fourth place among the 13 River Valley Conference teams and finished in third place in the regional tournament.

With graduation, the girls lost five seniors: Amanda Budreau, Allie Waterman, Ashley Riley, Sydney Lamont and Claire Bridges. Waterman, Riley, Lamont and Bridges all made regular, if not consistent, appearances on varsity. Returning players with varsity experience include Aleah Rocha, Maddi Luneckas, Abbey Fryauf, McKenna Walsh, Drew Perkins and Lexi Clemens.

On the boys’ side, we saw a good example of a tight conference race. Tipton and Wilton led the RVC South with their nine-hole averages of 197 and 210, respectively, but five of RVC North’s teams had better averages than that. Coach Sexton’s point of view, though, is that the regular season is practice for the playoffs, and that’s when West Branch struck.

Anchored by junior Trevor Thein and sophomore Ted Bridges, the Bears pounced when North met South at Saddleback Ridge Golf Course in Solon. The team led by 11 strokes after the front nine, then held off a surge by the others to finish with a two-stroke win over second-place Wilton.

Further, seven of the top eight teams came from the RVC South, despite the low averages by the RVC North before then.

The River Valley Conference champions then moved on to sectionals at Wahkonsa, the home course to Wilton and Durant, and those two teams, as well as North Cedar, edged out West Branch to advance.

Sectionals proved another example of the tight race in that sense, but also in a second: Thein and Bridges scored low enough to both advance to districts. Hiking up to Waterloo and competing in a downpour, Thein finished tied for seventh with Wilton’s Jared Townsen, while Bridges finished 15th in a four-way tie that included Tipton’s Zach Ford.

Thein, Bridges, Brady Lukavsky, Matt Whaley, Cade Aspelmeier, Evan O’Neil, Jack Robertson and Mitchell Knoop all saw significant time in varsity competition this season.

So how many did the team lose to graduation?

None.

(Mic drop).

So congratulations to the boys and girls golf teams and their array of accomplishments this past season. We look forward to what you will achieve in 2018!