Coming off tough games in Buffalo

While some fall sports are still getting started, the Powell High School golf team is already heading to their conference tournament.

The Powell boys will play today (Thursday) and Friday in the Class 3A West Conference Tournament at Pinedale’s Rendezvous Meadows Golf Course.

“These final two weeks we really need to put our best foot forward and see what we can take away from this season for our young players moving forward and as a way to send off our seniors,” said PHS coach Troy Hildebrand.

The Powell golfers had a tough tournament in Buffalo last week; their scores rose a little and they finished 12th among the 13 qualifying schools.

“We seemed to revert back a little bit to having disastrous holes that really caused our scores to jump,” Hildebrand said. “While we have made some real positive strides, we still have to figure out how to manage the course better to squeeze every shot that we can out of each round for our team.”

Hildebrand said Buffalo’s greens tend to be challenging  “and that definitely proved true for us.”

Senior Robert Rodriguez — the only Panther to have played the course before — posted scores of 106 and 101. Hildebrand said Rodriguez has been consistent, but is still looking for a breakthrough round.

“Right now he is just a little off his game, but he is working hard at things and I believe he is getting closer all the time,” the coach said.

Reece Hackenberg had “another solid weekend” in shooting 106-104, Hildebrand said. He praised the freshman’s work ethic and progress.

“(Hackenberg) is hitting more and more good shots each round and is still just trying to put it all together,” the coach said.

Fellow freshman Rob Sessions suffered a “terrible first hole” in Buffalo, but bounced back from Thursday’s 115 by playing “very well” and shooting a 101 on Friday, Hildebrand said.

“I love the way he goes about his business each round and does his best to get better all the time,” Hildebrand said.

Senior Sean Wagner paced the Panthers with a 99 on Thursday, but took a big number on his 17th hole on Friday and shot 115.

“His 99 ... was much more indicative of how he has been playing lately,” Hildebrand said. “He has improved each week and is settling into tournament golf better each event.”

Sophomore Treven Keeler shot 118 then rebounded with a 108.

“He has really had some ups and downs this season so far, but I know that he is capable of putting together some more solid scores this week,” Hildebrand said.

For the Panthers JV, junior Kyle Church put together “by far his best tournament to date” and shot 108-103, Hildebrand said. That was good for second-best on the team.

“He has made great strides each year and this season is really seeing some positive results,” Hildebrand said.

Junior Zavier Wantulok opened with a 125 then fired a career-best 105.

“It was great to see him play well and enjoy that round,” Hildebrand said. “I hope this is the spark that he needs moving forward with his competitive golf career.”

Sophomore Kacey Creed shot 122-123, though Hildebrand said he hit the ball better than the scores might indicate.

The coach said it comes down to consistency and experience, and he’s looking forward to Creed building on the experience he picked up this season.

Powell’s four lowest varsity scores over the two days totaled 840.

Riverton won with a team score of 614, followed by Gillette (652) and Sheridan (663). Individually, Riverton’s Easton Paxton finished 1 under par (73-68) to beat Sheridan’s Kirby Coe-Kirkham by six.

On the girls side, Sheridan’s Victoria Owings shot 78-83 to win individual honors and lead her team to the title.