By MIKE MACKE
WZBD.com
The South Adams linksters will also have a new coach this season. Mark Smith takes over a team that has four of their top five players returning from a year ago. While their record from last year wasn’t particularly impressive (18 – 33 counting all tourney finishes), coach Smith has a lot of optimism about this year’s squad: “Our record from last year may not reflect it, but we had a pretty strong finish to the season when it counted. We only lost one golfer from that team so we hope to pick up where we left off.”
Ready to lead this year’s group are two seniors. Tristan Dailey averaged 45 per nine holes but had a stellar 78 average in 18-hole tournaments as a Junior. He should give the Starfires a solid score to build on each match. The other senior is Silas Loshe who looks to be a more consistent scorer this year.
The other two returning varsity players are Juniors Graham Subler and Conner Fear. Each averaged below 50 last year as sophomores and hope to provide solid scoring this season. The other three golfers on the roster vying for a varsity spot are all sophomores in their second year on the team. Noah Hunley, Ethan Schwartz and Hunter Smitley all look to improve and contribute for the Starfires.
“Working on our short game has been more of a focus this year. I’m excited to see how this season plays out.” The Starfires play their home matches at Wabash Valley G.C. in Geneva. Look for them to improve on last season.