By OLIVER GOOD

Staff writer

Trojan golfers finished the season competing in the Central Kansas League tournament May 12 and 3A regionals tournament May 18 in Sterling.

As a team, the Trojans did not progress from the regional tourney to state. Coach Scott O’Hare said windy conditions at the tournament made the course more difficult than usual, so individual scores were higher. 

“I really felt like any one of these guys had the ability to post a qualifying score, but in the end, inexperience, inconsistency, and course management cost them,” O’Hare said.  

Individually, Elias Werth placed 29th out of 48 golfers with a 101. Elliot Ollenburger was 34th with a 104, Colin Settle was 35th with a 104, Alex Dalke was 38th with a 110, and Philip Ediger was 41st with a 116.  

“I really appreciate Philip’s commitment to the program over the past four years,” O’Hare said. “He came out for golf as a freshman with very little experience and struggled through the first couple seasons.  He just kept at it and continued to improve.”

At league, golfers shot a 398 to come in ninth out of 10 teams.

“I was pleased we shot our lowest team score of the season at the CKL Tournament,” O’Hare said. “It seemed like some of them were starting to put something together. I thought they were primed to post some good numbers down the stretch.  However, most of them were still plagued by inconsistency and posting big numbers on a few holes.”

Individually at league, Ollenburger took 32nd out of 55 golfers with a 95. Werth was 34th with a 96, Ediger was 38th with a 100, Settle was 47th with a 107, and Dalke was 50th with a 109.  

“I’m excited about the next few seasons. I believe we have a good core of young golfers to build the program around again. A few of these freshmen are excited about the progress they made this season and plan to keep playing throughout the summer,” O’Hare said. “Like anything else, in order to be successful, they will need to put in some time outside of the season.  I think some in this group are not only willing to do that, but are excited about the opportunity.”