Season warming up

The lengths some guys will go to get in a little golf.

The 2007-08 Greater Spokane League golf season has gotten off to a chilly start. Monday’s tournament at Manito Country Club was shortened to just 17 holes because of belated snowmelt and the temperatures have golfers ready to don insulated golf gloves.

Some area courses have yet to open.

So several of University boys coach Joe Turman‘s golfers are heading off during spring break to play on courses guaranteed to be open.

“About three of my guys are going to Arizona over the break and are going to play at Talking Stick (in Scottsdale),” he said. “They’re going to be down there for three days and they’ll play a few municipal courses down there, but the centerpiece is playing Talking Stick. That’s a big deal.”

The Titans’ top returning golfer, junior Hank Frame, won’t be in the desert, however. Turman, for one, isn’t worried.

“Hank is going to Hawaii with his family,” he said. “I hear they have a few golf courses over there, too.”

Area golfers don’t have to go that far to find a full-open golf course, although there are several that remain closed while Mother Nature has been slow to thaw. Spokane Valley schools that use courses at Liberty Lake have been fortunate.

The East Valley boys have started their season with four strong outings – finishing third in three big tournaments and winning the Pirate Open at Esmeralda last week.

“The big difference for us is that we’ve been able to get out and get on the course,” coach John Twining said. “We’ve been able to get out and practice at Trail Head at Liberty Lake, at MeadowWood and Liberty Lake.

“There aren’t that many teams that can say that. Mead was saying that they only just this week got onto Wandermere to practice. That’s what you just have to deal with this time of year.”

Central Valley Bears

The Bears are deep – opening the season with two varsity teams playing the Clarkston Invitational, where the teams placed ninth and 11th. They also placed sixth and seventh at Esmeralda in the Pirate Open.

Junior Tanner Robb, a second-team All-GSL selection a year ago, placed seventh at last year’s state Class 4A golf tournament. The then-sophomore fired an opening round 70 and followed that up with a 73 for a 143 36-hole total, seven shots behind the winner.

Senior Sean Mitchell and junior Chad Smith each carded four-over-par 74, a shot behind medalist Corey Meyers of Deer Park.

The CV girls had a solid group of seniors a year ago, which allowed coach Rick Giampietri to let this year’s juniors and sophomores work with teaching pro Molly Thola at Trail Head.

The team has just one senior, Janae Scheidmiller, on the roster.

East Valley Knights

The EV boys have been off to a solid start, placing third at a trio of early season tournaments and winning another. The Knights were third at both the Clarkston and Lewiston invitational tournaments and won the Pirate Open.

Monday they placed third behind Lewis and Clark and University at the Shriver Cup tournament at the Manito Country Club.

“I’ll take it,” coach John Twining said. “Our scores are right where I expected them to be last year at this time. I’ve put a lot of tournaments on your schedule to give our guys a chance to play as much as they can so they can work their games into shape.”

Senior Ben Johnson opened his season with a 74 at Clarkston and a 78 at Lewiston, Teammate Trevor Ragan, a junior, fired a 75 to lead the way in the Pirate Open. Junior Jonathan Dimmler earned a full-time varsity spot by shooting 78 in the Pirate Open and 73 at Manito.

Seniors Danny Marshall and Johnson have come close to qualifying for the state Class 3A tournament in the past.

Twining figures his Knights can be a solid GSL contender.

“I have five guys who can score well and seven or eight kids who could take anyone’s varsity spot,” he said. “It’s a little deceiving – some of these early tournaments only score the top four. If they’d scored five, we’d have been at least second. We couldn’t compete with (double winner) Coeur d’Alene – they have five solid Division I college prospects, but we’ll be solid against our league.”

Girls coach Rob Collins loses state veteran Ashley Saffle to graduation, but still has a state vet on his roster.

Sophomore Jenni White was an All-GSL second team selection a year ago and reached the state Class 3A tournament, where she turned in a solid effort, carding a 95-99-194 to place 42nd.

“Jenni is hitting the ball very well so far,” Collins said. “She’s just a good athlete and I think she understands what she needs to do to get better.”

While not a junior golf veteran, White’s game has been solid from the first time she picked up a club.

Junior Kayla Katzenberger is capable of shooting in the 90s on a regular basis, Collins said. Sophomores Ashley Olson and Samantha Grater, each earned a varsity letter a year ago.

University Titans

Turman is impressed with the speed with which his golfers have gotten their swings in shape this spring.

“The first day we got on the range, the balls were going all over the place,” he said. “(Monday) both Hank (Frame) and Matt (Montecucco) each scored a 69 over 17 holes at Manito. I think that’s pretty impressive – even taking away the par-3 17th.”

Frame, last year’s GSL Player of the Year as a sophomore, finished tied for 11th at last year’s state tournament, shooting a first-round 69 to be in third place going into the final round, but carding a 76 over the final 18 holes to finish at 145.

The Titans are helped by the fact that their practice course, Painted Hills, was one of the area’s first to open for play.

The U-Hi girls are young. All-GSL second-team pick and state tournament veteran Kaitlen Parsons is just a sophomore and part of an impressive GSL freshman class from a year ago. That class includes Lewis and Clark Player of the Year Chessy Thomas and East Valley’s White.

Lauren Palmer is the team’s lone senior. Freshmen Jordan Cowhig and Kelsey Ochoa both open the season on the team’s varsity.

West Valley Eagles

The Eagles’ home golf course, Hangman Valley, has yet to open for the season, leaving coaches Craig Whitney and Dave Marlow scrambling.

“We’ve had the kids out to hit at the driving range at Trail Head in Liberty Lake,” Whitney said. “Other than that, we’ve had them hitting balls at the school. We’ve taken over our wrestling room and we have kids hitting whiffle balls off of practice mats or putting balls on carpet.

“We were down at Clarkston (Monday) and for most of our guys, it was the first time most of them had played 18 holes this season. I figure we’re at least 8-to-10 strokes behind where we should be right now.”

Senior Jordyn Sodorff has been a state tournament threat the past two seasons and will once again be in the hunt. Fellow senior Jessica Peterson also returns.

Feeman Scotties

Coach Dave Teague calls his Scotties a legitimate state title contender, both as a team and as individuals. His boys are defending Northeast A League and district champions.

Senior Max Riggs, a football standout as a linebacker, is a three-year letter winner and state tournament participant. A year ago Riggs fired an opening round 81 at state to start out well back of the leaders, but followed it up with a second-day 75 to place 14th.

Sophomores Dylan Maine, Tyler Barrong, Taylor Vold and Ryan McKinney all are state tournament veterans.

Senior Darby Moberg, too, is a three-time letter winner and state participant from the girls team. She placed sixth at last year’s state tournament.

Junior Bailey DeHaas joins Moberg.