Jays will look to gain experience

Talk about it

Success for the Jamestown High School boys’ golf team will not be judged by traditional measures this season.

The Blue Jays have virtually no players with any competitive experience, and of the 26 kids in the program 15 of them are seventh and eighth-graders.

On the bright side, the weather has been really nice this spring, a far different story from last year, giving the youngsters plenty of time on the course for instruction.

“The good thing is these kids are enthusiastic about the game and they’re very coachable. They’re willing to work at it and that’s encouraging,” said coach Dean Kraft. “What we’d like to see happen as these kids play more, is that they’d catch ‘the bug.’”

“We’ve come to the conclusion that the only way you can get better is if you’re in competitive golf. You have to get out of your comfort zone and get out there and compete. Hopefully, a bunch of these kids will enjoy the sport and they can continue it over into the summer.”

Senior Troy Borowicz is the only player on the team with much varsity experience, but he’s coming off a foot injury, more specifically an arch ailment that required surgery, so he’s had to ease back in gradually.

Eighth-grader Brandon Stahlhut and junior Mitch Smyth saw a smattering of varsity time last year, although Smyth won’t be competing today when the Blue Jays open the season at the East-West Challenge at Rose Creek in Fargo. The second-round of the 2-day event will be held Saturday at Village Green in Moorhead. Smyth has a conflict with prom, which is Saturday.

The rest of the lineup for the opener will be really young with freshmen Brandon Hart and Matt Grounds penciled in. Also getting the call are seventh-graders Ben Harris and Nick Stockert.

Others figuring into the mix are junior Ryan Sanders, freshman Tygh Yatskis and sophomore Ryan Schlenker.

“It’s been fun to see how the older guys and younger guys have mixed together,” Kraft said. “They all fit together and are eager to learn and try to improve.”

With so little experience, steady progress takes precedent over pars and birdies.

“It’s going to be pretty rough for us as a team, but the kids have shown a willingness to learn and as a coach that’s all you can ask for,” Kraft said.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at daves@jamestownsun.com

Tags: high school, sports, golf, jays, boys