With the district tournaments less than a week away, Sweet Home’s golfers are trying to cut down their stroke counts.
The boys got a preview of how districts will look on Monday, April 22, at Tokatee, in McKenzie River, which is where their tournament will be held May 6-7.
The Huskies were depleted by academic ineligibility and finished with a 448 as a team, which Coach Pat Davis said would probably have translated into the “390s” if all the regular varsity players had been there.
Chris May led Sweet Home with a 98, followed by Kolton Ertsgaard (102), Alex Kisselburgh (116) and Joe Hiemenz (132).
The Huskies are the only team from District 2 – Cascade, Cottage Grove, Marist, Marshfield, Newport, Sisters, Stayton and Woodburn – to actually play a competitive round at Tokatee this season, as an early-season match at the course was cancelled due to weather issues.
“That gives us a little bit of an advantage,” Davis said.
“We’ll see what they can do with it.”
The girls played two matches last week, at the Oregon Golf Association course in Woodburn on April 22 and at Diamond Woods in Monroe on April 25.
Missing two of their varsity players at OGA, due to injury and illness, the Huskies didn’t have a full team, but Brook Womack finished with a 119, which put her in the top 10 of the field, Davis said.
Woodburn shot a 405, which was “clearly the best” and Waldport was second with 434.
“Our team score, if everybody had been there, would have been very, very competitive with the rest of the bunch.”
At Diamond Woods, Womack was again the low scorer for Sweet Home, shooting a 112 on a “tough, tough course.” Maren Weld was second with a 126, her best score ever over 18 holes, and Lexi Schilling shot 132.
Rebekah Fassler has been out with a foot injury.
“Rebekah would have shot at least 115, which puts us in the mid-fours,” Davis said.
The Huskies hosted their own invitational Monday, April 29, at Pine Ridge in Marcola.
The varsity boys will play Thursday at Glaze Meadow at Black Butte.
The girls and the JV boys will play a match Friday afternoon at Pineway in Lebanon. The boys will tee off at 2:30 p.m. and the girls at 3.
The girls will play May 6-7 at the Special District 3 tournament, which features 26 teams, at the Rogue Valley Country Club in Medford. State is May 13-14 at Eagle Crest.
The boys district tournament will also be May 6-7, at Tokatee. State is May 13-14 at Trysting Tree.