This season’s Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn boys golf team is short on one attribute but has an abundance of another key one. “We won’t be real experienced, but we have some hard working kids that will put in the work to get better,” noted HMS coach Mark Japenga.
Lost to the Hawks due to graduation are Wyatt Borden, Nick Bronstad and Keith DeBoer. The top returning golfers from last season are seniors Lucas Kroese and Charlie Conway and sophomore Jack Mastbergen. The team also includes seniors Ethan Baker and Caison Kruger as well as sophomores Aiden Bush, Slayton McCarter, Blake Meendering and Dominic Tripp.
Japenga is hopeful that by the second week in April a determination can be made as to who will fill the open varsity positions. As to whether HMS will be able to have a full team for competitions, the coach could only respond, “That remains to be seen at this point.” He was more definitive in stating that the points of emphasis for the season would be “to play the best what we can and stay calm and collected in any and all situations.”
The coach predicts Unity Christian will be preeminent among the top teams in the War Eagle Conference. When queried as to where he feels HMS will fit in among the Conference teams, Japenga replied, “We will have a better handle on that after the first couple of meets.”
Japenga related a couple of goals for the golfers under his charge this season. “We want to improve as a team and handle stressful situations with grace and poise,” said the coach.