The Becker Bulldog boys golf team finished sixth at the state tournament at Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan this week. The Blake School won the state title with 589 while Becker finished with a 642. Becker senior Michael Sogard and Albany senior David Schneider tied for 33rd and were the top area finishers in Class AA.

 

Sogard shot 77-80—157 and Schneider shot 76-81—157.

 

Blake was led by sophomore Derek Hitchner, who won the state individual title by shooting 65-69—134.

 

On Tuesday, Becker was able to get three-to-seven holes in before the rain came and the players were pulled off the course.  The delay kept the players at the course until 5:30 p.m. before they called the day for the boys and told the kids they would be starting back up at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

 

At the start of the second day, there were six groups of girls and all of the boys on the course.  The pace of play was extremely slow for the first couple of holes and then it picked up.

 

Becker’s boys finished the first round around 11 a.m.  Sogard shot a 77, Jackson Fluck a 78, Alex Stanz a 78, Zach Stanz an 84 and Caleb Foster and Brandon Abrahamson had 89's.

 

The team came in with a 318 and were in sixth place after the first round.  

 

“The boys came in with a solid first round team score and seemed to handle to pressure of competing in the state tournament,” said Head Coach Dan Olson.

 

Olson’s team then had to wait until 3 p.m. to start their second round.  

 

The pace of play was even worse than the morning round, Olson said, with the first nine holes taking two hours and 45 minutes to complete.  

 

“Coaches and officials were doing everything that could be done to get the kids to play faster so that we could get the round finished,” said Olson.

 

Sogard tapped in his final putt for the Bulldogs just before 9 p.m.  

 

“The second round was a test of the kids' mental and physical toughness,” said Olson.  “My kids had to play 30-33 holes Wednesday in windy and extremely slow play.”

 

Olson pointed out “The Ridges” has a lot of elevation changes and is not the easiest course to walk 18 holes, let alone 30+ holes in one day.  

 

“Most of the kids were physically and mentally drained by the time they were on their inward nine,” he said.  “I am so proud of all of the kids as they played their hearts out.  They all battled through some tough stretches of holes, yet kept their head in the game and were able to come in with some good scores.”

 

Sogard finished his senior year with a solid performance at state while Foster was able to bounce back from a tough first round to finish his year off with a respectable score.  

 

“Both of these guys will be missed next year,” said Olson.  “Jackson, Alex, Zach and Brandon all gained some valuable experience and hopefully that will help them get back to state next year.” 

 

The rest of the Becker golfers at state were junior Jackson Fluck (45th, 78-81—159), seventh-grader Zach Stanz (61st, 84-80—164), sophomore Alex Stanz (63rd, 79-86—165), senior Caleb Foster (77th, 89-83—172) and junior Brandon Abrahamson (83rd, 89-94—183).