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THS golfers frustrated with slew of rainouts

By Scott Tittrington - | May 9, 2007

Perhaps no single sports team has been as drastically derailed by the ongoing soggy northeastern Kansas spring as the Tonganoxie High boys golf squad.

The latest setback came Monday, when a weekend’s worth of consistent downpours delayed what was supposed to be the Kaw Valley League tournament at the Trails West course on Fort Leavenworth.

The KVL gathering has now been tentatively rescheduled for Friday, adding an extra four days of longing for a team that hasn’t completed a full 18-hole regulation competition since its first tournament of the season way back in March.

“It’s tremendously frustrating, and you can see it with the kids. They just really have a hard time getting into a rhythm of what they want to accomplish,” said Tonganoxie coach Steve Harrell. “The bulk of our season really comes down to four 18-hole golf tournaments over the last couple of weeks, and we haven’t been able to complete any of them.”

Harrell thought Tongie’s dry spell was finally going to come to an end last Thursday during a shotgun start at the Perry Country Club. However, just as the group of No. 1 players reached the No. 17 tee box, the skies opened up once again, forcing that foursome to play the final two holes in a downpour and preventing several others from completing their rounds.

Such hardships have made it difficult not just for the players to improve their games, but for the coaching staff to zero in on particular areas to work on the next time they are able to tackle a tournament.

To that end, Harrell doesn’t have any misplaced notions about what to expect out of his lineup both at the KVL meet, but come Monday when THS travels to Western Hills in Topeka for their Class 4A regional meet.

Harrell has currently settled on a lineup of juniors Drew Scates, Matthew Williams, Ryan Stockman and Eric Donnelly, sophomore Dalton Lawson and freshman Mitchell DeHoff, and has established simple goals for his youth-laden squad once it does return to action.

“If we can manage the course and make some shots, come away with some positives and maybe some personal records. … A better driving day, better putting day,” Harrell said, “then I think we’ve probably gotten some positive things out of the season.”