Spartans start season in rebuilding mode
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Two straight second-place finishes at the State tournament have set the bar high for Emporia High’s latest group of boys golfers — and most of the guys who put that bar where it is are now in college. So it’ll be up to a new group of golfers to join two returning seniors in the quest to get back to the State tourney.
EHS’s season was scheduled to begin this morning with a tournament in Salina that was pushed back a day because of weather. The Spartans are beginning their season with a cast of characters almost completely different from the one that finished second to St. Thomas Aquinas at the State tournament both last year and in 2007.
“We have a lot of young kids. They don’t have a lot of experience at the varsity level,” EHS coach Rick Eckert said. “I’m more worried about them being nervous than about how they’re golfing right now. Because their games, they’re decent in practice.”
The Spartans lost four seniors off last year’s State runner-up, three of whom — Eric Reimer, Fletcher Harder and Bren Fisher — are now golfing at the next level. Fisher finished second individually at last year’s State tournament in McPherson, and Reimer and Harder also earned medals, finishing ninth and 13th, respectively. Mark McAnarney also graduated.
“So we are in a definite rebuilding mode this year,” Eckert said.
Complicating that rebuilding process is the fact that EHS’s top returner is trying to rebuild his wrist. Senior Zach Young broke a wrist playing basketball around a month ago and may or may not be back before the end of the season.
“He’s out of the hard cast, and he’s got a soft cast on now,” Eckert said. “He’s just got real limited mobility, but they think by the end of the month, we may get him back.”
Until and unless that happens, senior Craig Morgan, another varsity returner, will be the Spartans’ No. 1 golfer, and Eckert says he and Caleb Chiroy will have to carry “the majority of the load for us.” Sophomores Jared Schaefer and Larkin Bennett and junior Zach Hill will be counted on to provide depth.
“We’ve obviously got some things we’ve gotta work on, some areas that are pretty weak,” Eckert said. “But the thing is, they’re working as hard as they can, which is all that I can ask of ’em. And I think that by the end of the season, we’re gonna become more competitive.”
Emporia will host the first of two varsity home tournaments at Emporia Municipal Golf Course on April 16. The other will be on May 11, the last tourney before Regionals one week later. But if the Spartans send any golfers, individually or team, to State, they’ll have home-course advantage there, too — State will be at Emporia Municipal Golf Course on May 26.
“And obviously, the goal that you have every year is just, you’ve got to be in those top three teams at Regionals to try and qualify for State,” Eckert said. “And if this group comes together, I truly think that we’ve got the potential to go back to State. I mean, I’m not saying that we’re gonna be like last year, when we were State runner-up. I think we’ve just got the potential to get there and compete with some teams. But we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then to get there.”