By Coach Jack Rice.
Friday Harbor’s Jack Hess and Reese Tangney won medalist honors for the men’s and women’s divisions. For the first match of the season, in cold and wet conditions, the local team posted some good scores. This was the first match for many of the players and with nine of them being only 8th and 9th graders, they played well. Some of these 8th graders are so small their driver is taller than they are. But I’ll tell ya, you don’t want to get into a long drive contest with them!
Because our schools are in the smallest division, we are allowed to let 8th graders play on the high school golf team. Jack Hess as a freshman already has a year’s experience behind him making it all the way to Bi-District as an 8th grader. Experience like this will pay big dividends as we go through the season. Junior Reese Tangney turned out for golf for the first time this year and took home medalist honors in the Ladies’ division.
I am proud when the team plays well and looks well on the course. With all the raincoats and heavy sweaters on you would never know the team was all decked out in their new golf shirts. A big thank you to the members and management at the San Juan Golf Club for all their support.
Friday Harbor Men’s Team: Low 5 scores: 252
Jack Hess 45 9th Medalist
Sam Herda 48 8th
Fisher Goosman 52 10th
Ryan Rautenberg 53 11th
Finn Graham 54 9th
Andy Quiroz 56 10th
Dylan Lawson 57 8th
PJ Dixon 59 8th
Atreyu Welty 59 10th
Andrew Rezabek 61 9th
Grayson Mathews 63 9th
Lopez Men: Low 5 scores: 345
Henry Robles 58
Deston Dupuis 58
Kyle Copeland 68
Bryce Coro 77
Daniel Valencia 84
Beau Spreine 84
Friday Harbor Women’s Team: Low 3 scores: 210
Reese Tangney 65 11th Medalist
Akira Tokunaga 71 8th
Morgan Douglas 74 10th
Lopez Women: Low 3 scores: 206
Abril Velazco 66
Melissa Valencia 69
Hannah Roberson 71
Amelia Patino 71
Valentina Rendo 73
March 28:
The match was played at Swinomish golf Links in Anacortes.
The word for the day was patience. “Patience is an important characteristic that enables golfers to negotiate a shot properly and also perform your best over an entire round. The loss of patience can be the difference between scoring well and not scoring well.” Regardless of where your golf game is, you need to learn to exercise the ability to stay patient.
Sometimes we experience situations outside our control: that was the case Tuesday. The course overbooked the activity for the day with Anacortes High hosting a 4-way match against other schools and La Conner hosting Friday Harbor. With a scheduled 3:15 start time we were lucky to get everyone on the course by 5:45. Only one group was able to finish before we made the mad rush back to the ferry landing for the ride home.
Highlights for the day: The only group to post an actual score was Jack Hess 46 and Ryan Rautenberg with a 48. The two best players from La Conner posted 40 and 44. First-year player Fisher Goosman was sitting at 39 with one hole to play. If we give him a bogey on 9, he cards his best round of the year with a 44. The same goes for Finn Graham, sitting at 41 after 8 holes he is in at 46, another personal best. I’m not brave enough to project other scores, when a team member has 3 of 4 holes to play. One of the best shots of the day came from 8th grader PJ Nixon. The first tee can be a little nerve racking especially for a first-year player and being an 8th grader to boot. Pictured below you will see PJ just hammering one on the first tee about 210 down the middle. Junior Janna Rajczi made had her first road trip with the team. She stepped up on the first tee and fired one it right down the middle as well. I winked at her and said, “now that wasn’t that scary, was it.”
The real hero for the day was our bus driver Kyle. He was like an air traffic controller directing kids all over Anacortes. Starting out on the island at 6 in the morning with his normal bus route, he delivered the Junior High band to Anacortes, picked us up at the Anacortes ferry landing, delivered the team to the golf course and returned to the school in time to pick up and deliver the band back to the ferry. He then picked us up at the golf course and we all made it to the ferry landing in time for the final ride home at 8:25. On the ride home I congratulated the team on their patience. Everyone maintained a positive attitude under difficult conditions and we had a fun day.
Scores for Lummi March 30:
The Lummi Nation Golf Program has only existed for a couple of seasons. Their players are getting better but are no competition for the Friday Harbor varsity. Jack Hess was medalist for the match with a fine score of 41. It’s only a matter of a few putts dropping and he will be breaking forty on a regular basis. Right behind him is Finn Grahman, another freshman who didn’t play his best, but still scored a 49. Coming in third was 8th grader Dylan Lawson with a 53.
We have three other 8th graders on the team this year, Sam Herda, PJ Nixon and Akira Tokunaga. With nine players in the 8th and 9th grade, the future of Friday Harbor Golf is very positive. The ladies golf team got the day off as the Lummi team has yet to put together a lady’s program. Coach Jack Rice
Friday Harbor Men’s Team: Low 4 scores: 198
Jack Hess 41 Medalist
Finn Graham 49
Dylan Lawson 53
Ryan Rautenberg 55
Andy Quiroz 55
Fisher Goosman 56
Sam Herda 60
PJ Dixon 60
Atreyu Welty 65
Andrew Rezabek 66
Grayson Mathews 66
Lummi Men: Low 4 scores: 221
Peyton Brockie 53
Trevon Lee 53
Hunter Ballow 57
