If numbers are any indication, Sweet Home golf looks to be on the upswing. For sure, this year will be a work in progress.
Starting his sixth season at the helm, Coach Ron Moore has a total of 19 players – 12 boys and seven girls.
“That’s got to be more than double what we’ve had in the past,” Moore said, referring to his early years at the helm, as he watched his team last week get ready for a drill. The Huskies were practicing their short games – in a rainstorm – on a short driving range Moore rigged up on school district land behind Little Promises Preschool last week.
Assistant Coach Brandon Harvey ran the Huskies through the drill, in which their goal was to drop their shots into plastic wading pools scattered across the facility. The golfers were driving off a mat created from artificial turf that Moore got from wrestling Coach Steve Thorpe, who salvaged it from Tillamook High School when the Cheesemakers replaced their football turf.
Moore’s team last year was slightly larger on the boys side, 15 players to start the 2024 season, but his girls numbers are definitely on the rise, coached by Haley May, who played at Corban University after qualifying for state as a Sweet Home golfer.
Boys Show Promise
Last year’s Husky boys finished a disappointing fifth in the district – “we had a bad second day,” Moore said, and they’re looking to move up.
“This year I think we have a nucleus,” Moore said.
Although veterans Evan Ashcraft and Chet Garrett are gone to graduation, the Huskies return a player with a lot of varsity experience in senior Easton Perry, who’s been with the team since he was a freshman. He’s one of three seniors, the others Gavin Gardner, who took up high school golf last year, and RJ Abbott, the school’s top male swimmer, who decided to join the team this year.
Also back from last year on the boys side are sophomores Zane Garrett, Kellen Hartsook, Trent Harvey, Daniel McCubbins and Gage Pettner.
Freshmen Henry Gainer Reid Garrett, Dylan Hartsook and Blayne Schuster round out the boys roster.
The boys 4A Special District 2 has been reconfigured this year, with Marshfield and North Bend moving south to join Douglas and Rogue Valley schools, leaving what largely is a mix of Oregon West and Sky-Em conference teams: Cascade, Cottage Grove, Junction City, Marist, Newport, North Marion, Philomath and Stayton in addition to Sweet Home.
Marist is the defending 4A state champion, so that doesn’t mean things will suddenly get easier, but the departure of the other two state qualifiers from last year may open things up a bit at the district level.
The most veteran boys opened Monday, March 17, at Bandon, and most of their matches will be on Mondays. There is one variation from that Monday schedule: The teams will host their Sweet Home Invitational Wednesday, April 2, at Mallard Creek, where the boys and girls practice three days a week. The boys will seek to qualify for state at the district meet, which will be May 12-13 at Tokatee at McKenzie Bridge.
Girls Golf Growing
On the girls side, junior Avery Temple and sophomore Tori Victor return, joined by five newcomers: senior Crimson Emmert, juniors Eleanor Larson and Isabella Wagner, and freshmen Taelyn Coleman and Allie Wilson.
May said the seven girls on the team are “the most we’ve had in a really long time.”
“The team was decent-sized the year after I was in high school,” but the numbers have not been as high since then, she said, although she started with five last year.
The size of the team gives her the five varsity players she needs to put a team on the course, and leaves her with two JV players, she said.
“This is only my third year coaching, but even playing, I’ve never experienced a group of girls that were so happy to be playing and like to be involved,” she said, noting that it didn’t take long for them to organize a get-together at one member’s home.
“They were, like, hanging out and having a time, and they’re just really excited, and they want to be good. I’m not used to that, so it’s kind of cool to see.”
The girls play in the massive 21-team 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District, which stretches from Yamhill-Carlton and North Marion to Sisters to Waldport, including defending state champion Salem Academy.
No Huskies qualified for state last year, but May said she’s “excited” by the enthusiasm and dedication to learning the game she’s seen.
“I think we’re capable of doing some crazy things in the next couple of years,” she said.
The girls also opened Monday at McNary Golf Club, in a match hosted by Marist that included 17 of the teams in the district.