Raiders golf in the swing of things

Marathon has 29 golfers in this year’s program

By Casey Krautkramer

Luke Jacobson is in the midst of his fifth year as Marathon golf head coach and 16h year in the program.The 29 Marathon High School students out for the golf team this spring are the most he’s ever seen.

“This is high for us,” he said. “Last year, we had 25 golfers and seven of them were seniors, so it is exciting to grow after losing that class.”

The varsity squad only has the top five golfers in the high school program in its starting lineup in meets, therefore Jacobson has needed to be creative in scheduling other opportunities for the program’s other golfers to gain experience this season.

“We have seven opportunities for JV meets on our schedule and three JV2 meets for our golfers who are brand new to the game,” Jacobson said. “These meets are extremely important for our program to create an opportunity for competition. We want our golfers to learn how to play competitive golf and understand how to handle their nerves and frustrations when they hit a bad shot.”

“Golf is a rewarding sport that you can play your entire life. When high school kids get an opportunity to play, at any skill level, they learn to quickly love it and strive to improve. If we have 29 athletes getting better, competing with each other and learning how to score on the golf course, it increases our odds to be competitive in the playoffs and sets up our entire program for success.”

Marathon’s top varsity golfers this season are juniors Alex Pawlowicz and Dylan Dodson. Marathon’s top newcomers to the golf program this season are seniors Mason Seehafer and Ashley Phakitthong; juniors Jacob Rhyner, Aiden Stanek, Jordan Rauen, Jake Lepak, Dylan Schreiner and Logan Schmidt; sophomores Blake Kraft and Myles Handrick and freshmen Cassius Ninabuck and Mya Buchberger.

Jacobson’s assistant golf coaches this spring are Brett Kage and Todd Stoffel. Jacobson admitted that Newman Catholic is the favorite to win the golf conference championship because of its number of golfers returning who have vast experience on the course. Newman Catholic won the first leg of the conference championship meets this season.

“Newman is the obvious choice to win the conference this year based on its experience and talent,” he said. “Conner Krach has competed at state and won state for a few seasons in a row now and that experience and confi dence is tough to overcome. Alex and Dylan were able to hang with their top two golfers in conference play by tying them over the first 18 holes. That shows how much they have grown through their experiences. Both have played at state for the past two seasons and this experience has shaped them into top golfers in our conference.”

“The rest of our golfers need to gain experience and confidence quickly if we are to catch up with Newman Catholic for the final 54 holes (three more conference meets). I like the number of golfers in our program pushing each other to improve, but we need to reach that maturity quickly. We have a lot of golf left and I look forward to competing each week and into the playoffs.”