Marauders show growth
MHS fell 245280 to TUHS
The bright spots of improvement and growth are showing for Monache High School’s boys golf team despite a 245-280 loss to Tulare Union Thursday in their East Yosemite League match at River Island Country Club.
A young team in experience and age, the Marauders are steadily improving with two golfers in the bottom of the order carding their lowest scores of the season with a 66 for senior Julian Andrade and a 64 for freshman Michael Hobbs.
“For starters we had our best round so far at 280,” MHS head coach Jake Winter said. “With three new golfers, that’s pretty good. We had two golfers shoot their best of the year...it’s good to see them getting their best rounds. Again, this is their first time ever golfing. Got them out of the 70s and into the 60s, and the scores are coming down. If we can get them into the 50s, I told them that we can call them golfers.”
Monache was led by senior Braeden Sanders who shot the lowest for the Marauders with a 48. He was followed by sophomores Austin Thompson shooting a 50 and Nash Wobrock finishing with 52. The three are the team’s only returners, moving from the fourth through sixth spots to the first through third spots.
“All three of them have shown potential, they’ve shot in the low 40s, to make a run at possibly breaking 85 and making it to Area,” Winter said. “The team might be a year late at making a run this year but those three have the potential, one of them or all three of them, to make a run as an individual. That will be the other thing we’ll be looking at this year. How can we as a team do but once we get the new golfers running then I got to get back up there and how do I help the golfers at the top.”
Sitting in third place last season, the Marauders won the EYL title with a “little bit of luck” in the EYL championship tournament. The win ended rival Porterville’s hopes of a postseason after the team entered the tournament as the favored to win. Now the Panthers return a number of players and are who Winter believes is the team to beat this season.
“It’s tough,” Winter said. “Porterville, to me, is the team to beat. They returned everybody, they got some seniors. Coach [David] Herrera has been doing a great job with them over the last few years. So I think they’re just poised and ready. They’re still a little stung by us kind of catching them at the tournament last year so I expect them to come out and really do good things.”