JV Coach Denny Roehm and Varsity Coach Jared Meyer are both off and running on the golf courses as their teams and players are breaking records. Despite a cold and windy spring, the golfers are improving with each contest. They have some young players, and the JV team has enough players to field two teams. The varsity team also has some younger players making great progress.
The JV team started out with a good season, winning its first jamboree at the States Golf Course April 17.. Coach Denny Roehm was able to field two JV teams for this jamboree. Vicksburg finished strong with 1st place with a total team score of 169. Coldwater, Vicksburg’s 2nd JV team, Sturgis, and Cassopolis followed in the event. Top scores for the JV team were Blake Summerfield, 40, Ethan Brandau, 42, and Austin Shaw, 44.
The JV team took 1st place with a team score of 179 on May 4 at the Milham Golf Course over Portage Central, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix and Kalamazoo Central. Landon Schwenk had a 44 with second place and in 4ths place, a 3-way tie, with Blake Summerfield, Brady Johnson and Kane Penney.
At Pin High Golf course on Friday, May 8th in Lawton the JV team finished in 1st place again with a total score of 172 followed by Otsego, 177; South Haven, 189; and Paw Paw, 200. Finishing in a first-place tie was Blake Summerfield, 40, 3rd place, Ethan Brandau, 42, 4th place, Austin Shaw, 44, and 8th place, Ryder VanSolkema and Alexander Dobbin, 46.
On April 13th, the Varsity Bulldog golfers won two jamborees in Edwardsburg and Niles of 9 holes each with a two-stroke margin in each win to come out in first place. These two jamborees left the Vicksburg golfers leading the Wolverine Conference in first place. Team scores at Niles were: first place, Vicksburg, 165, Edwardsburg, 167, Plainwell, 168, Niles, 169, Otsego, 174, Paw Paw, 176, Sturgis, 180, and Three Rivers, 190.
On April 14, Vicksburg hosted jamboree #3 at Angel Crossing with 7 other teams: Sturgis, Niles, Edwardsburg, Otsego, Plainwell, Paw Paw, and Three Rivers. Again, with outstanding performance of the boys’ golfers, they finished in first place with a Conference record, and an All-School record. To find team results, a total score is composed of the top 4 individual scores of each team. Vicksburg finished on top with a team total of 146 strokes, followed by Edwardsburg, 153; Otsego, 161; Sturgis, 162; Niles, 164; Plainwell, 167; Paw Paw, 169; and Three Rivers, 185. Individual scores for the Vicksburg golfers were: first place with Judah McClelland, 32; Lincoln Taylor, 37; Malachi McClelland, 39; Nathan Vallier, 40; Austin Cohrs, 38; and Donnie Yant, 45.
Vicksburg’s golfers did well at the GK Championship at Lake Doster on April 20 with Lincoln Taylor winning the Medalist position in both conference outings, first, at Plainwell, Lake Doster, Lincoln, in shooting a super score of 36, and later at Otsego at Shamrock Hills in shooting a top score, 34. The team ended in second place in both events.
On April 23, the Vicksburg golfers played in the Gull Lake Tom Collins Memorial at Bedford. The Bulldogs came in second overall out of 22 teams. and just 3 strokes shy of finishing in first place. Three players finished in the top 10 for Vicksburg. Judah McClelland came in at 5th place with a score of 76, Nate Vallier, 7th place, and Lincoln Taylor, finished in 9th place with a score of 78.
In the Paw Paw conference Jamboree on May 4 at Lake Cora Hills, the Bulldogs came out on top with a team score of 148. Top golfers for Vicksburg were Lincoln Taylor, medalist with a 34, Judah McClelland in second place with a 36, and Cohrs finished in 7th place with 37.
On May 8th Varsity golfers went to Ann Arbor in The Derby at Polo with 18 teams l (Vicksburg and Parma are division 2). Vicksburg placed 4th with many highly ranked D1 teams from the east side of the state. The top team in this event was South Lyon with a score of 296. All three teams that beat Vicksburg are in the top 10 of the state. Congratulations to Lincoln Taylor who finished 11th with a score of 74.
At the MHSAA Pre-Regional hosted by Coldwater on May 14, The Bulldogs finished in 1st place out of 22 teams. Coach Meyer said ”the course was extremely difficult with tucked pins and fast and firm greens.” Top finishers were Lincoln Taylor and Judah McClelland tied for 8th with 81s. Malachi McClelland and Nate Valiier finished tied for 15th with 83s.
The golfers traveled on May 18th to the Harbor Shores Shootout and came out on top over Gull Lake in a big win on a big-time golf course. Vicksburg edged out Gull Lake by shooting a team score of 316, one stroke under Gull Lake which finished in second place. Eight teams played in this shootout.
According to Coach Jared Meyer’s Conference Highlights are the following”: Lincoln Taylor is currently leading the conference in scoring average as he has had 3 rounds under par. Judah McClelland is in the top 10 in the conference. Lincoln and Judah have both shot 4 under par, 32 this season and shared the school record. Nate Vallier and Austin Cohrs are in the top 15. Top 10 after the conference championship (Wednesday 5/20) will be all-conference 1st team. Next 5 are honorable mention. The team has a 9-point lead over Edwardsburg going into the conference championships.”
Wednesday, May 20, the Varsity Golf Team at Pine View (Spruce course) became the Conference champs! Four of the golfers finished all conference as Lincoln, Judah, and Nate were first team and Austin was honorable mention. Vicksburg Bulldogs finished 1st with a team score of 311, followed by Plainwell, 321, Edwardsburg, 323, Otsego, 331, Sturgis, 344, Paw Paw, 354, Three Rivers, 354, and Niles, +36. Lincoln Taylor with a score of 80, Judah McClelland, 77, Malachi McClelland, 83, Nathan Vallier, 77, Austin Cohrs, 78, and Donnie Yant, 79. Congratulations, Conference Champions!
The Bulldogs were to attend the MHSAA Regionals on Tuesday, May 26 at Coldwater. The top 3 teams and the top 3 individuals on those teams will advance to the state finals. Coach Meyer pointed out that ”they are the defending regional champs, but it’s going to be extremely challenging to repeat and advance as 8 or 9 are very good teams who are all capable of advancing out of the 20-team field.”
“We have a lot of talented freshmen and sophomores, and we expect many of them to make a big jump going into next season,” Coach Meyer said. “Competition is high and the future is bright!”
