HHS golf sees a promising season ahead

When it comes to getting a new season started, the Central A Havre High boys and girls golf teams are wasting no time.

Thursday at the Prairie Farms Golf Course in Havre, the Blue Ponies participated in their first practice of the 2010 season. And Thursday's practice is the first of just three practices the Ponies will hold before participating in their first tournament of the season.

This Tuesday, HHS will host their season opener at Prairie Farms. The final list of competitors won't be known until Monday, but the Ponies are expect ing the conference rival Lewistown Golden Eagles as well as some Great Falls junior varsity squads.

"I am very excited to actually get the opportunity to get to play some golf," first year head coach Mckinsey Rodriguez said. "We've got some pretty good players out there." The team's numbers are relatively low this season.

Juniors Simon McCann and Sam Lippy as well as sophomore Spencer Morkrid are the only returning varsity golfers for the HHS boys.

And for the girls, Rebekah Martin returns as the only HHS letter winner.

Martin is also the only returning Blue Pony with state tournament experience, as Brett Normandy graduated and is lost from the boys' team.

"Rebekah is going to have carry quite the load." Rodriguez said. "She is going to have to pick up a lot of slack because we don't have a lot of girls out this year. And for the rest of the team, there will be some others that will be on the edge and that will have to step it up as well if we are going to want to compete." The rest of the HHS golf team is made up by Jesse Leiberg, Ramsey Drew, Katie Beck, Jacob Holden, Chance Pikanen, Dani Friede, Austin Chr i s t iansen, Bos ton Swensen, Samantha French and Thurman Holdsclaw.

McCann and Lippy will most likely carry the load early for the boys. They have the most experience and should perform well this season.

And coming in as a freshman, Beck also shows a lot of promise on the girls side. Beck is the younger sister of former Blue Pony standout Tabitha Beck who is currently playing golf at Montana State University-Northern.

"(Katie Beck) looks like she has experience," Rodriguez said. "And should be able step it up." With a young team, and with Rodriguez being newly appointed as the Havre High head coach, the Ponies don't really know where they stand compared to competition just yet. And with a rapidly approaching tournament, the Ponies don't know a whole lot about the competition either.

Tuesday's matchups will be the first real look at themselves and the field of competition for the Ponies.

"I've heard different things about how good we are and where we sit," Rodriguez said. "But I would like to see a good test of where we really sit in the league and what we can really do.

I am really excited for that and for the next couple of weeks. We have a few tournaments coming and that will be pretty cool.

"My standards are a little different from player to player," Rodriguez added. "But for the team, I would just like us to earn a good score and improve from there. We just need to get out there and calm our nerves and turn in a good score." And though a lot of work is still needed before divisionals and state, Rodriguez feels the team is where he believed they would be at the start of a new season.

"I was kind of hoping we would have some of the dust worked off the clubs," Rodriguez said. "But I think the kids are right where I thought they would be.

We need to work on just playing more consistent and hitting a good shot." Divisionals are on Sept. 24 in Lewistown, while state will be Oct. 1-2 in Laurel.

Divisionals and state aren't the focus quite yet, but the Ponies are looking to qualify a handful of boys and girls and are confident they will do so.

"Overall I think we have a good possibility of being good this season," Rodriguez said. "I think we can definitely compete and set ourselves up for some good stuff this year." The Ponies will get their season underway Tuesday at 9 a.m. when they host a tournament at Prairie Farms Golf Course in Havre.