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Nevada students play qualifying round for placement in upcoming golf season
Nevada High School spring golf qualifiers began this week at the Frank E. Peters Golf Course with a group of 15 players vying for the top five varsity sports on the team.
The varsity squad will be tough to make this year as the Tigers return all but one player from last years' team that tied a school record for the lowest nine-hole round against Lamar and won the school's first trophy. Expectations and the schedule have grown in magnitude with the success of a more veteran team.
"We are playing seven tournaments this year," head coach Brian Leonard said. "I went to the seven-tournament, five-match format because of the boys we have. They're seniors. Tyler (Gast) is a junior. If we can get them more tournament experience I would like to place in the top three at a few tournaments."
Four of the five varsity spots are foregone conclusions, according to Leonard. Seniors Zach Braucher, David Cavener and Brandon Davis join Gast as locks for varsity. The fifth spot is technically open for the taking. While Leonard said the contest is strictly based on numbers, he has a freshman he expects to make a run at varsity.
"Like I said, I've got Alex Christiensen coming up as a freshman," he said. "He has been playing fairly well you know, mid-40s, upper-40s. If we can get him down I think we'll be pretty good."
One reason the Tigers played at a higher level last year was the play of then-sophomore Tyler Gast. Gast qualified for the state tournament and will likely be the No.1 or No. 2 player on the team. Leonard said he has anchored the team since his freshman year and is well capable of shooting under par on a good day.
After shooting what he described as "a bad 37" Tuesday, Gast talked about goals and getting back into the swing of things as the weather warms up.
"Today wasn't too good," he said. "I putted all right. Mostly I just need to get the feel back, it has been a while. The cold weather is not helping too much. I'm hoping to make it to state again and finish, hopefully, top 10 but you never know how it's going to turn out."
Braucher also got the feel back Tuesday after shooting in the 30s on the back nine. Leonard said Braucher is capable of shooting similar scores to Gast: "Consistently around 40 or 41," he said. After his round, Braucher put his practice round in perspective.
"It's early in the year," Braucher said. "You're going to place high in a match anytime you shoot in the 30s so I'm pleased with where I am.
"You know, I'd like to place top two or three in District (12). Conference really doesn't pay any dividends to me. I'd like to go to state along with Tyler (Gast) and also David (Cavener) and possibly the rest of the team if we can pull district out."
Leonard said this is one of the first teams he has fielded with a shot at placing high in tournaments and making a run in the post season. Braucher was more bold than his fourth-year coach when it came to winning district.
"I don't want to call anything out, but I'm going to go ahead and predict it," he said. "I think we're going to take it."