Consistency may be the key to the success of this year’s West Liberty High School boy’s golf team, according to second-year coach Nicholas Frenz.
Coming off a rebuilding season a year ago, the Comets return five top performers including junior Ty Jones, who was the only West Liberty golfer to qualify for Class 2A District competition.
But coach Frenz says juniors Colin Cassady, Shane Elder and Preston Daufeldt, as well as lone senior Jack Mahoney had some “impressive individual performances” a year ago that he hopes to become more consistent with the new spring season that begins Monday, March 28, when the Comets travel to Cedars Edge Golf Course in West Branch for a 4 p.m. outing. That outing may be one of the toughest of the year against the defending 2A State Champion Bears, which brings back another solid team that Frenz says is well coached.
The team follows with a six-team tournament at Wapsi Golf Course in Calamus on Monday, April 4 beginning at 9 a.m. when they will battle Anamosa, Camanche, Don Bosco Catholic, Lone Tree and Maquoketa. The schedule follows with five more tournaments and five dual matches including the River Valley Conference meet on Tuesday, May 3 at the Muscatine Municipal Golf Course.
Frenz expects his team will see “more success this year than we did last year,” pointing out 2021 was a building season, bringing everyone back from last season along with two sophomores, Morgan Lehman and Coven Morgan, and six freshmen Cale Brooks, Cael Daufeldt, Cole Daufeldt, Hunter Klier, Caden Laughlin and Merrick Shield.
“With the addition of some solid freshmen players, I envision winning some dual meets and finishing at the top of the leaderboard in some tournaments,” Frenz said. “After gauging the goals of my players, I hope to have six guys shooting in the mid to low 40s and a few guys shooting in the high 30s through nine holes. If that is the case, there is no doubt we will see success.”
Frenz said the entire River Valley Conference is competitive and will provide the Comets with stiff competition at each meet and tournament.
The coach said his upperclassmen will need to play a key role in leading the team. Jones, who had the team’s lowest score last year for nine hole in marking 40 twice, should be a solid performer, but said Cassady, Elder, Daufeldt and Mahoney have put in a lot of work in the off-season and are ready for a “big year.”
Frenz said consistency “is the name of the game.”
“My boys have a great opportunity to be really competitive this year but we need to put our best effort forward day in and day out,” the coach said. “My top guys have the ability to post low scores ¬– it is just a matter of going out to practice, meets, and tournaments with the intent to post a lower score than the guy next to them. If we can put together a more consistent season and be more consistent round to round, we will see great success.”
The coach said it’s unfortunate the team will move up a class this year to 3A. “We are now the 3rd smallest 3A school. That will change the outlook for postseason golf but our regular season remains the same.”