Seniors to lead Hornets golf squad in 2025

By Nathaniel Underwood

After last year saw significant turnover in the starting lineup for the Hornets, the 2025 Colby golf team will have a year’s worth of varsity experience under their belts. A senior-heavy squad will be looking to build off their season’s last year and with many of the athletes from that starting varsity squad returning this season, there is certainly opportunity to do so, both from an individual and team standpoint.

Seniors Brody Viegut, Jacob Hoppe, Gavin Voss and Braiden Johnson were all part of the varsity squad that competed at last year’s regional meet and will all be back for the Hornets in 2025.

Viegut had the Hornets’ top performance at last year’s regional competition, coming up just two strokes short of qualifying for the sectional meet as an individual while finishing 21 st. Voss and Johnson also led Colby at various times throughout the 2024 season, the trio typically rotating as the team’s top-three golfers. Hoppe was also a significant contributor to last year’s squad, typically slotting into the varsity lineup, and will be back once again.

Fellow senior Landon Steinman will be joining the team in 2025 and is one potential option to fill the fifth and final spot in the varsity squad.

In addition to Steinman, the team will feature four freshmen in Julia Christenson, Peter Carroll, Xavier Hoppe and Logan Reynolds.

New faces will also be found in the coaching department as Tim Rau will take over as head coach and Jason Christenson will serve as the varsity assistant and JV coach. Rau has led the Hornets in the past, bringing with him six years of coaching experience while Christenson has played competitive golf for years and helped coach other youth programs.

The pair have liked what they have seen in the early going for the Hornets and hope to see continued improvement from the squad throughout the season. The main focus for this group, as Rau sees it, is to improve upon consistency, both from a meetto- meet standpoint and throughout each individual meet. “All are very gifted athletes and can drive the golf ball a long way,” Rau noted of the team’s seniors. “All five of them are good enough to earn some all-conference points.”

Getting up to speed and competing at their top form by the conference and regional meets will be the team’s main goal this season, as they look to try to break into the top half of the conference standings and try to send members to sectionals, either as individuals or perhaps even as a team.

The journey towards that goal will begin on Tuesday, April 22 when the Hornets travel to Medford’s Black River Golf Club for their first meet of the season. The meet is set to start at 4 p.m.

2025 COLBY GOLF TEAM - This year’s 2025 Colby golf team is, in the back row, left to right, Peter Carroll, Brody Viegut, Landon Steinman, Braiden Johonson and Jacob Hoppe. In the front row, left to right, are Julia Christenson, Xavier Hoppe and Logan Reynolds. Not pictured is Gavin Voss. The Hornets’ head coach is Tim Rau.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD