With just one senior, one junior, one sophomore and two freshman, Becker Bulldog golf Head Coach Dan Olson will be relying heavily on his youthful band of talented boys to gain the same success he had last year where his team finished fourth in sections and sent one golfer (Billy Dingmann) to state.
“We definitely are a young team, but I see a lot of potential from these boys and I’m anxious to see how they perform once we start hitting the course,” said Olson.
Olson will have Taylor Essen as his assistant coach this year. Essen will also serve as assistant under girls Head Coach Steve Whittaker.
Sophomore Michael Sogard will be looked upon to be one of the team’s best shooters as well as freshman Jackson Fluck. Junior Adam Schug is looking to turn some heads and return to form after suffering an injury last year and eighth-grader Alex Stanz will be counted on to gain experience day-by-day and learn from the older boys.
Hunter Hammer is the lone senior returning who has experience on varsity. Brandon Abrahamson, a freshman says he hopes to “play well and lead as best he possibly can.” He also said he’d like to play better than his teammate, Alex Stanz, he said jokingly.
“My goal this year is to play well and help others on the team play to their potential,” says Stanz. Fluck agrees and says, “I want to play well, cheer others on the team and encourage them.”
“It would be nice to win the conference and make a run in sections,” said Sogard.
“If we have confidence in ourselves, we’ll go far,” says Schug.
Olson says he’s curious how the season plays out being the fact his team is so young and inexperienced.
“We are kinda light and we’ll keep an eye on things early to see who moves up and who moves down as far as varsity and JV,” he said.
Olson says it’s been frustrating the last two years having to deal with the late spring and not being able to get his kids outside to practice before the season starts.
“Three years ago we were outside playing and didn’t spend one day indoors,” he said. “These last two years have really been frustrating.”
Last year’s Granite Ridge Conference champs was St. Cloud Cathedral and they are expected to be right in the mix again this year despite losing two valuable seniors. Albany came on strong in the latter part of the year and will also be vying for the top spot.
“We should be okay, we should be right in the mix,” said Olson. “Maybe we’ll get a top-three finish, hopefully.”
The boys’ season was set to start April 7 at Pebble Creek, but that invitational was postponed to April 16. Last Friday’s conference meet in Mora has been cancelled with no reschedule as of yet.
Monday, the boys are expected to travel to Stone Creek Golf Course in Foley for a nine-hole conference meet (weather permitting).
