By RYAN RICHTER

Staff writer

Trojan golf coach Scott O’Hare could have a good reason to smile about the upcoming season.

He’s got a solid core of seniors with state experience returning, along with a duo of juniors and freshmen with outstanding potential.

Making their last go-round, the senior trio of Elliot Ollenburger, Elias Werth, and Colin Settle are no strangers to state tournament competition, qualifying the past two seasons.

After a 10th place finish in 2016, the trio jumped up to sixth a year ago, along with earning medals at a variety of regular season tournaments.

One stroke was all that kept Ollenburger out of the state’s top 20 a year ago, and with six top-10 finishes, he may be O’Hare’s biggest weapon if he can stay consistent.

Werth barely missed the top 25, but added four top-10 finishes during the regular season.

“They all have solid ball striking ability,” said O’Hare of the duo. “The major areas of improvement need to be with consistency, course management, and the mental side of the game.”

The junior class took a hit with the loss of Joe Knoll, who was sidelined back in fall during football season.

Without Knoll, not a lot of experience returns, with Darian Ratzlaff and Avery Unruh relatively new to O’Hare’s program.

“Both of them are very athletic and very coachable,” O’Hare said. “Darian started making a lot of progress last season, and Avery has already shown some tremendous upside.

“I’m hopeful that one or both of them can contribute on the varsity level to go with scores from Elliot, Elias, and Colin. If that happens, we could be a fairly competitive team.”

Newcomers will be Paul Glanzer and Zach Dittert.

Glanzer’s familiar with the game, but it’s too early to tell whether his participation in Hillsboro’s local junior golf program will be enough to make an impact this year.

Dittert’s just getting started with the basics however; O’Hare’s pleased with the freshman’s drive to improve.

“Overall, I’m very excited about this season,” O’Hare said. “This is a really good group of guys. They all seem to get along very well, been very open to my style of coaching, and have been working to improve every day.”

The Trojans’ season tees off April 3 at the Herington Invitational.