Panther golfers start fall season

Posted 8/18/16

Hildebrand sees a boys team that should feature a healthy amount of intra-squad competition for varsity spots and several young Panthers who played a lot of golf over the summer.

Coming off a 13th place finish at last year’s Class 3A state …

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Panther golfers start fall season

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As he looks over the 18 players out for the Powell High School golf team this fall, coach Troy Hildebrand is more excited than he’s been in years.

Hildebrand sees a boys team that should feature a healthy amount of intra-squad competition for varsity spots and several young Panthers who played a lot of golf over the summer.

Coming off a 13th place finish at last year’s Class 3A state tournament, watching some of the boys playing on their own “was kind of a step in the right direction for us, I think,” Hildebrand said. That off-season experience “is really important for us as we kind of start rebuilding,” he said.

The Panthers start the fall season today (Thursday) in Riverton with a 36-hole tournament that concludes on Friday.

Hildebrand said many of the PHS boys are “very close ability-wise and in scoring”; he expects weekly battles for the slots on the traveling team and the varsity squad.

“That’ll be great for us, to have that type of competition for those spots — and (it) should be a great incentive for those guys that are in the mix to really work hard this season and focus on the little things,” the coach said.

The four seniors on the PHS squad are Kyle Church, Austin Asher, Zavier Wantulok and Austen Layton.

Church is the team’s most experienced tournament player, Asher “has really grown over the last two years as a player and has done a lot to help himself,” and Wantulok will once again be in the mix for the tournament team, Hildebrand said.

Also among the team’s returning members is junior Treven Keeler, who had the best showing at state last year.

“I think that as he’s continued to mature as a player, he’s just going to be able to keep seeing more growth and lower scores,” Hildebrand said.

The coach also expects another junior, Kacey Creed, to continue to compete for tournament positions this season.

After a couple team practices, Hildebrand is already pleased with the work that a trio of sophomores — Reece Hackenberg, Rob Sessions and Bennett Walker — put into their games over the summer.

“It’s nice to have sophomores that are improving at the rate these three guys are,” he said, describing them as having “signs of getting bit by the golf bug a little bit.”

Meanwhile, another young golfer — freshman Crandell Sanders — appears to be “truly a golf junkie,” Hildebrand said. Sanders played in a half-dozen tournaments over the summer while also receiving some instruction. The coach expects Sanders will play varsity in Riverton and “he’s only going to get bigger and stronger.”

Two freshmen girls also went out for the PHS team this year, but they’re both new to golf and won’t travel to tournaments at the start, Hildebrand said.

“We’ll see how things progress throughout the season,” he said.

Golf gets off to the earliest start of the fall sports schedule and also wraps up the soonest; PHS’ season will culminate on Sept. 23 and 24, when they and the Powell Golf Club play host to the Class 3A State Tournament.

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