Plains athletes take to the golf course

The Plains golf team dusted off their clubs and brought them out to work the kinks out of their games after the long winter off-season.

Coach Terri Kendall, who has been at the helm of Plains golf for four years, will be coaching the 13 players on this year's squad, including all five members of the team who earned a trip to the State B Tournament last year and 13 overall.

“Practices have been going well,” Kendall said.

“I have been teaching the new kids the basics and the others have just been playing, getting the cobwebs out of their games.”

She also said that Plains' golf course is in really good shape, with no snow at all, unlike Thompson Falls' or St. Regis' courses.

Senior Tanner Colombo, who tied for first at the divisional tournament before losing in a playoff round and won third place at the state tournament last year, should be a big part of the team's success.

“We didn't actually know we were going to state until after Tanner's very last shot,” said Kendall.

According to Kendall, only the top four teams at divisional go to state, and they only beat Superior by two strokes to earn their berth to state.

Seniors Ian Stokes and Dusty Burgess, along with junior Ben Holland and sophomore Bryce Benson make up the five-man team that Kendall expects to do really well.

“I didn't have any seniors last year, and I am expecting big things from this group.” Kendall also said that everyone on the team has improved greatly from last year.

The remaining eight players are all beginners, six boys: freshmen Jeff Revier, Wade Bache, Kenneth Beech, Andy Ibarra, and John Harrison, along with sophomore Brian Green and two girls, Paulina Laskowska and Apinya Sinlapavilawan, both senior foreign exchange students.

Competition begins April 5 in Deer Lodge, followed by a tournament at Missoula Loyola April 11 and 12 before the first local tournament is held in Plains April 19.