Junior William Meyers is one of the three experienced players in the golf team. According to Head Coach Jake Narro,
he is consistently one of the top performers in the team. Courtesy of Sports Information

For the second time this season, the Lions golf team played below their expectations as they  finished 12th at the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate tournament. Their first in-state tournament produced mixed reactions.  

“We were a little bit disappointed as a team,” said Head Coach Jake Narro. “We had a little higher expectation from that event even though we played some good golf. You know, Joris had a pretty good event, and he started out really good, kinda had a tough middle round and finished up good. William Meyers didn’t play as well as he wanted to. The overall feeling of the event is that we played pretty good, but we didn’t all put it together at the right times.”

Narro pointed out that the team needs to improve on finishing the tournaments and maintaining consistency.

“We need to do better,” said Narro. “That’s one of the things that we’re stressing right now. Finishing off rounds, finishing off tournaments, not letting our position in the standings slip right at the end.”

The tournament did have some positives for the team. Narro described some of the stand out performances from the tournament.

“A great round by freshman Logan Kuehn,” said Narro. “His first under par score already. Generally, it takes longer than that, so we’re over that. He’s really motivated. He’s come back practicing even harder ’cause he got that little taste in his mouth. Joris and William continue to play good.”

Junior Bailey Smith could not play in the final round of the tournament due to an issue with a swollen gland. This meant the team finished the tournament with four players.

Junior Joris Etlin led the team for the second tournament in a row. Narro is pleased with the players competing to push themselves for the better of the team.

“He’s only going to continue to do that and continue to do it better,” said Narro. “The beautiful thing about that is that he’s gonna push William. They are 1A and 1B. At the beginning, William was 1A and Joris was 1B. Now, that’s flip-flopped a little bit. What I hope is that it continues to do that, you know they’re pushing each other.”

Narro commented on his plans for the team during the break ahead of the Cardinal Classic.

“We are going to do two days of community service, and sandwiched between that, we’re gonna target some things, for example, Kristofer Kerr has got to work on his body,” said Narro. “Logan Kuehn’s gotta work on his wedges. Everybody has some specific things in their golf games to work on.”

The Cardinal Classic starts on Friday, Sept. 29. Narro gave his thoughts on the tournament.

“We’re off to a bit of a slow start,” said Narro. “The guys are working hard, and I do predict some better results in the near future. Going into Cardinal Classic is going to be cool for us because it’s gonna be in a little bit different part of country for us. The courses and the grasses on the courses are going to be a little bit different. I think we’re gonna go up there and play well.”

Freshman Kristofer Kerr is one of three freshmen in the roster. He came to the university after having played golf for four years in Loranger High School. Courtesy of Sports Information