By Brandon Harvey
For The New Era
The Sweet Home golf team took to the road last week with the boys and girls varsity travelling to Junction City to compete in the Marshfield Invitational at Shadow Hills Country Club and the junior varsity boys team travelling to Cottage Grove to play in a match at Middlefield Golf Course hosted by Cottage Grove High School.
Shadow Hills, a challenging golf course with tight tree-lined fairways and smaller targeted greens, challenged both the boys and girls.
Senior Easton Perry teed up as the first seed for the team and placed 20th overall in a field of 72 golfers and 14 4A schools. Rookie Senior RJ Abbot is beginning to prove himself as a player with his score of 104 and tied 34th overall with returning sophomore Zane Garrett.
Sophomore Daniel McCubbins finished fourth on the team with a 42nd place finish and a score of 106. Returning Senior Gavin Gardner rounded out the fifth man with a score of 124 and a 62nd place.
The boys team finished in ninth place. Trent Harvey did not play this week due to an injury to his back.
For the girls, Tori Victor, a returning sophomore and playing the first seed for the team, placed 16th in a field of 25 golfers and six schools.
Rookie junior Eleanor Larson is learning the game quickly and proving herself on the course with a finish at 21st.
Taelyn Coleman, a freshman, placed 23rd and shows great promise for the future of Sweet Home girls golf.
Rookie Crimson Riggs-Emmert, a senior, and rookie Isabella Wagner rounded off the day’s scores with Emmert in 24th place and Wagner unable to finish due to nightfall.
In other golf news the team continues to develop the Pleasant Valley practice area. Over the past few weeks they have added some target areas, making the one-time baseball field located behind the former elementary school look more like a promising practice facility for current and future players. The end goal is to eventually build a covered hitting area with turn mats and a practice green.