Overcoming a shaky start, Mingus Union High School head golf coach Craig Mai thinks he has targeted his new breed of leaders who can follow in the footsteps of last fall’s two Top 25 finishers at State.
“We basically lost our four top players from last year,” Mai said. “Three were seniors; one was a junior [Orlando Machado] who decided to play football this year instead.”
Unlike his 2013 team, which ended up placing Gary Baker and Ryan Sullivan at Nos. 7 and 24 in Division II, respectively, in their final year of eligibility, this fall’s team has no seniors and six freshmen out of 13 players on a young roster.
Even the three sophomore MUHS golfers, including Keagan Lamb, who tied for eighth individually Aug. 29 at the Eagle Booster Invite — “our No. 1 golfer,” Mai said — cannot yet boast of extensive match play experience.
“I started freshman year and [was] probably the worst player in the world,” sophomore Travis Nester said. “I have one year experience playing golf, [but] it’s been a great improvement for me and everyone else.
“We lost our best players, but we’re still producing. I can just see us getting better, coming together and acting as a team, even though it’s an individual sport.”
Nester’s personal goal is to shoot as many rounds under 80 as he can this fall and follow Lamb, who shot a 37 over the back nine Aug. 29. Although Lamb and junior Brian Valenzuela are “definitely our 1 and 2 golfers,” Mai said, the Marauders took his little brother, sophomore Henry Valenzuela, freshman Ethan Brogdon and a “personal pick” from freshmen Matthew Bachler, Michael Bryan, Tyre Kim, Braden Munday and Caleb Wylie to their lone team match win of the season to date Sept. 2, over Mohave High School in Prescott Valley.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Sept. 10, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
