Wolverine golfers place 3rd at league tournament

By Jack Rice

FHHS Golf Coach

Mount Vernon Christian walked away with top honors scoring a 93, Grace Academy was next with 74.5 and Friday Harbor High School rounded out the top three spots with a score of 69.5.

Lopez and Orcas followed up for 4th and 5th place with 59.5 and 47.5 respectively.

The tournament was hosted by the Gallery Golf Club in Oak Harbor.

Dylan and Levi will advance to the next level of competition at the bi-district tournament to be played on the same course next Thursday.

Two top Friday Harbor players, Joe Stewart and Tanner Wilson, are leaving on overseas adventures so are unable to compete. The Friday Harbor district team had two freshmen, three sophomores, and one junior playing, probably the youngest team I have ever fielded.

Tobin Arden from Lopez was medalist for the event with a fine 84. Dylan tied for second but with a match of cards ended up in third place. For Dylan, this was just a practice round; the real competition is next week when a trip to the state tournament is on the line. I expect him to play even better next week now that he has seen the course after not playing it for over a year.

Freshman Levi Doenges continues to improve. He finished in 10th place to secure a trip to the next level only as a freshman. Ian Volk ended the day in a tie for 16th place, first alternate position. To break the tie, a sudden death playoff was conducted starting on the first hole. Ian pared the first hole in the playoff to secure 1st alternate position. This is very exciting for a young player to be part of a playoff with all your teammates and other contestants watching.

One shot back was Chase Wilson who is a first-year player on the team. Chase had a great tournament and I expect to see his continued improvement. Three more shots back was another sophomore, Peter Kulseth.

Both of these players told me they wish they could have just one hole over because it would have been really easy to improve by a number of shots. Rounding out the team was freshman Weston Swirtz. What a learning experience for this young team. I think they all did great.

This year was the golf team’s turn for equipment upgrades.

We decided to purchase all weather rain coats from Columbia for the travel teams. Sew-N-Tell Embroidery of Friday Harbor added the finishing touches to our new coats.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Top 15 move on to bi-district tournament

1. Tobin Arden/Lopez 84

2. Kyle Ekkelkamp/MVC 97

3. Dylan Posenjak/Friday Harbor 97

4. Max Hansen/MVC 98

5. Trenton McKinney/Grace Acad 98

6. Chase Zachry/Grace Acad 99

7. DJ Droog/MVC 100

8. Reese Hamilton/Lopez Island 104

9. Jordan Harris/Grace Acad: 115

10. Levi Doenges/Friday Harbor 115