Superior golf moves on

ST. REGIS – St. Regis Golf ended their 2014 season on May 1, playing host to nine other teams at the Trestle Creek Golf Course.

The weather was sunny and near perfect as temperatures climbed to the upper 70-degree mark. 

Leading the St. Regis boys was Elias King who finished with a 107. Keenan Clute was behind him finishing with 114 swings on the day. Dakota Wickham had a 129. 

For the girls, Ashley Cheesman tied at eleventh with Darrian Conley of Seeley-Swan. Both shot a 121. Courtney Cheesman finished with 153. 

Superior finished in seventh place with 445 swings. St. Regis doesn’t compete as a team, so they aren’t considered in the final team standings. 

Josh Benda led Superior with a stellar finish of 76 swings placing second among all boys’ competitors. Luke Boyce was behind Benda with a 98. Rounding out the list was Taryn Ververis with 130 swings and Craig Stortz who finished the day with a 141.

“Luke and Taryn got their lowest scores of the year,” said Seth Kuhl, Superior golf coach. “I’m very happy with how they played.” 

Benda and Boyce will likely be considered for the state tournament, which requires players to be below a 100-swing average. Both players consistently hit that number throughout this season. However, Superior still has two more meets before state hosted by Seeley-Swan on May 20-22, so there is still room for improvement. 

St. Regis ended their season, as most players won’t be available for the final two scheduled meets because of a school trip to Alaska.  

“We had beautiful weather,” said Dan Park, St. Regis Golf coach. “My kids didn’t qualify, but Ashley missed it by one stroke with a final swing of 121 on the day.”

While the course can be tough for some players, Park thought the boys did OK. 

“Elias had some out of bounds problems,” Park said. “But it can be either good or bad on this course.”

St. Regis usually sends multiple players to state, but most players didn’t compete up to par for the majority of the season missing the 100-stroke average. Missing the final two meets because of the Alaska trip also played a part.

“We have some work to do next year to get things going,” Park said. “They were all so close, and most will be back next year except Keenan who is a graduating senior.” 

Overall, considering it was the last tournament of the season, Park thought the team played well. 

“We had a boy qualify for state last year,” Park said. “This is actually the first year we didn’t qualify anybody for state in quite some time.”

After reflecting on the season, Park was surprised that not one player qualified for state as he had high expectations for his squad coming in. 

“I really thought we would have two boys qualify for state this year,” Park said. 

Even though the Tigers weren’t able to compete among the best in state, the coach’s expectations for the 2015 season are already through the roof. 

“We will be back at state next year you can count on that,” Park said.