Pony golfers primed for a new season

Of all the fall sports, the high school golf season comes fast and furious. And that’s the case for the Havre High golf teams.

Practice began just last Thursday, and already, Blue Pony golfers will hit the links for their first tournament Tuesday morning. The HHS boys and girls will host the Havre High Golf Tournament Tuesday at Prairie Farms golf course with varsity and junior varsity teams from Browning and Lewistown in attendance.

And the tournament marks the beginning of a brand new start for the Blue Ponies, as Havre is now under the direction of head coach Brett Gilman. A longtime Havre resident, and the superintendent of Prairie Farms, Gilman takes over for McKinsey Rodriguez, who coached the Blue Ponies the last three seasons. Gilman will be assisted this season by former Class A All-State Blue Pony golfer Jeremy Jensen, who also just finished competing for the MSU-Northern men’s golf teams the last two years.

Between Gilman and Jensen, the new HHS coaching staff has plenty of golf knowledge and experience, but the split between youth and experience is palpable between the HHS boys and girls teams.

The Havre girls return a relatively intact varsity lineup, including 2012 Class A state qualifiers Boston Swensen and Katie Beck. Both players have played three full years of varsity golf and should provide experience and stability on the course. Also back for the Ponies is Nikki Gabrielson, who also has a ton of experience, and in years past, has shown the ability to shoot good scores. Sophomores Randi Gabrielson and Peyton Howard also played on Havre’s varsity team as freshmen and should be much-improved in 2013. Junior Julie Kadrmas and senior Danielle Friede round out the HHS girls’ roster.

“In all, we only have seven girls out for the team,” Gilman said. “But we have a lot of experience. We have two returning state qualifiers and Nikki Gabrielson is back and she will be right there, too. With all of the experience we have back, I think all of our girls are capable of being our number one player, and they’re all capable of shooting really good scores. I think that experience will really help them as a team.”

Varsity experience is something the HHS boys lack this season, a season which will follow the Blue Ponies finishing second at the 2012 Central A Divisional Tournament and taking five boys to the state tournament. Sophomores Jeff Miller and Jerod Boles, who finished seventh and ninth in the Central A a year ago, respectively, will lead the way, but after that, the Pony lineup will look very different this season. Gone is the trio of Spencer Ross, David Denny and Ramsey Drew, who helped lead the Ponies to a strong 2012 campaign.

“Our boys team is going to be really young,” Gilman said. “We have a group of kids back from last year’s JV team and our freshmen class is good, but by grade, and by varsity experience, we’re really going to be a young team this year.

“Jeff and Jerod are young by grade, but not in experience,” Gilman added. “They have played a lot of golf this summer, they had a really good freshmen season, and they are going to do very well this year. But after that, the rest of our lineup will be a toss-up at this point. There are a lot of kids who can fill those spots.”

Junior Wyatt Lindbloom looks to be one of the players who can help the HHS varsity roster this season, while freshmen Kane Gabrielson, Dustin Haas and Aden Passon are part of a large contingent of newcomers, which also include Gavin Mossbrucker, Jared Laux, Tucker Carlson, Kyle Kirkpatrick, Trey Hanson and Hondo Owens. Senior Jon Faber is also new to the golf team this season, while returning players like Garrett Hentschel, Tanner Hentschel, Michael Bakke, Jack Hanson and Brad Bender will look to vie for varsity spots.

And though the postseason, which starts with the Central A Divisional being played at Prairie Farms Sept. 28, the goal for golfers is to improve as the season goes on, and the HHS boys and girls will have plenty of time, and tough golf courses in which to do so.

Havre’s schedule includes traveling to the Great Falls Invitational next Monday and Tuesday, along with two trips to the East Glacier Lodge Golf Course the following two weeks. Havre will compete in Lewistown before hosting the Havre Invitational Sept. 14 at Beaver Creek Golf Course, while the regular season winds up with the Billings Central Invite Sept. 19 at Eagle Rock Golf Course and the Laurel Invitational Sept. 20 at the famed Laurel Country Club.

HHS’s goal will be to qualify both the boys and girls golf teams for the 2013 Class A state tournament, which takes place Oct. 4-5 at Mission Bay Golf Club in Polson.

“The kids will play on a lot of courses and play a lot of golf and that will help them improve as the season goes on,” Gilman said. “With the girls team we have, I expect they can shoot between 400-420 as a team every time out and that should put them right there. The boys team, it’s tough to say right now because we’re so young, and a lot of these kids haven’t competed in a high school golf tournament yet.

“And that’s why it’s good for all of our kids to start at playing at a course they’re very familiar with (Prairie Farms),” he added. “This first tournament will be really good for these because they know the course and they feel comfortable there. All of our JV kids will get to play and it will be a good first step for all of our players.”

The Havre High Golf Tournament begins at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Prairie Farms. The tournament is an 18-hole event for both varsity and JV players.