DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
An experienced team and a couple of freshmen have South Adams head golf coach Chris Toledo excited about the upcoming season, which kicks off for the Starfires at home Wednesday.
The Starfires will look to take the momentum from last year’s performance at sectional, where they finished a very respectable fifth place (out of 12 teams) and roll it over into 2023.
“I am anticipating a good year for our program. Last year we had many wins, which was a blessing because we lacked seniors,” says Toledo.
With an entire varsity team returning with a season full of experience, Toledo feels it will be a much different year for him as a coach.
“With basic golf skills in the back pocket of these girls there should be more of an inner drive to score better. This should produce another, maybe better, season. As coach I have been focusing on the close losses from last year.”
Now with 16 total seasons of coaching experience, Toledo feels that he can coach his girls to victory with maturity in those tight matches.
The team won seven matches in 2022 and finished second in the conference before the strong sectional showing.
Toledo’s notes on each player:
Julia Arnold returns as No. 1; shot her season best of 44 last year and is the team’s best all-around player. She is a junior.
Senior Addy Hinton is one of the best ball strikers on the team; best round last year was a 45.
Hailey Wendel is also a senior and is great around the green; a “scrambler”; three medalist wins last season.
Ady Toland is another senior this year; the only lefty on the team; Best round last year was a 52
Megan Yoder is a junior who has good driving distance; top round last season was a 51.
The freshmen on this year’s team are Brooklyn Green and Sophia Orr.
“Those two newcomers have been working very hard this summer,” notes Toledo, who intends to rotate players into the very compact high school golf season.
“We did not have that blessing last year,” he notes. “With only five on the roster, we had a lot of mental and physical stress of playing so much in just a seven-week season.”
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