The Colman-Egan boys’ golf team returns three starters from last season’s squad, which placed third at the state tournament.
The Hawks were Dakota Valley Conference and Region 2B champions.
Kade Groos led the way at state, taking fourth individually. He was the region medalist.
Bodee Groos was 38th and Chandler Gullickson 67th at state.
First-year head coach Billy Stitz listed the team’s strengths as experience. However, outside the top three, none of the remaining players have seen any varsity action.
“It will be important for our seniors to take the extra step forward and a fourth and fifth golfer to emerge if we want to compete for another top-three spot at state,” said Stitz. “We only have one girl, seventh-grader Berkely Groos, but we hope she can represent CE well and possibly make the state meet as a seventh-grader.
“It’ll be hard to get a lot of live swings in if the weather remains this poor, but we hope to get enough swings in and get the muscle memory set to compete when the weather does finally turn.”
The Hawks lost Mason Hemmer to graduation. He took 17th at state after finishing as runner-up in both the DVC and Region 2B tourneys.
The 2018 Dakota Valley Conference Tournament is May 7 at 9 a.m. at Sunrise Ridge in Colman.
The Region 2A Tournament is May 22 at Edgebrook in Brookings.
The Class B State Boys’ Golf Tournament is June 4-5 at Cattail Crossing in Watertown. The girls’ event is at Prairie Winds.
The Flandreau girls’ golf team is looking for more success in 2018.
The Fliers qualified for state for the first time since 2000 last year, ending up in sixth place. They won the Big East Conference Tournament and were second at the Lake Central Conference Tournament.
Flandreau returns three starters, including captain Grace Johanson. She medaled in all but two meets a year ago and finished 28th at state.
Keva Burshiem tied for 31st at state and also medaled in all but two events throughout the year.
Alaina Cloud medaled in all but three tourneys and took 38th at state.
All three players earned All-BEC and All-LCC honors last season.
The boys’ squad graduated Dawson Blum, a top-50 finisher at the state tournament.
Devon Burggraff is the captain this year.
“We are really looking forward to where 2018 takes us with a good nucleus of young kids willing to get better,” second-year head coach Jake Otkin said. “On the girls’ side, we have experience and success that should drive us to new heights and we will expect a lot from them.
“On the boys’ side, we are young but have good leadership. The boys should continue to mold and get better as the year progresses. I look forward to welcoming Coach (Spencer) Yackley as the assistant coach to the golf program. He will bring good knowledge and experience to the team.”
