SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW | Returning state golfers ready for second shot at 2A champs

Published 4:26 pm Friday, March 9, 2012

USELESS BAY — Three Falcons who made it to the 2A state golf championships last year returned for another go this season.

On the boys team, seniors Harrison Price and Jesse Portillo plan to drive and chip their way back to Spanaway for a shot at the title. Junior Jenna Kaik, who made it to the state championship as a sophomore last year, is the leader for the girls.

Both teams grew this year. Tom Sage, the girls golf head coach, said he has 12 golfers for the first time in his eight-year career with the Falcons. The only downside is the girls team doesn’t have any seniors; there are seven freshmen and five juniors. Two freshmen made the varsity team, and the others are in the hands of assistants Ron Eaton and Jessi Eaton, who was a golfer for Sage. The young team has presented some problems early for Sage.

“They have a little bit of experience,” he said of the freshmen.

“You just do the best you can with it. Fortunately, I have Ron and Jessi Eaton out here helping.”

The main emphasis for the Falcon girls is on putting. Driving can be worked out here and there during the season, but Sage said their time will be better served by taking away a few putting strokes.

“I really think the place to do that is in the short game. One extra putt through one round is 18 strokes,” Sage said.

He said juniors Chelsey Schultz and Hannah Cotton and freshman Molly Sage (his daughter) could also impact the team’s success this season.

“It’d be nice to get two or three to state this year. We’ll just have to see,” he said.

“We could be pretty good one through four, but those five and six golfers could be a bit challenging.”

The boys team has two it expects to return to the state championship. Price golfed through the summer and into December. He took about a month off before resuming his plan to work on putting in February.

“It’s gotten a lot better, a lot more consistent, a lot more up-and-down,” Price said.

“I noticed there are a lot more pars, and the scores are lower.”

Portillo was not as diligent about hitting the greens, Price said. It shouldn’t make too much of a difference, however. The two seniors have talked about competing at the state tournament, and it’s their plan this season.

“I came into the season not wanting to make a lot of goals, and just let what happens, happen,” Price said.

“We talked about going back to state. It’s a big goal, but if we put the work in and play like we can it’ll take care of itself.”

Both teams will have lots of preparation for the tournament atmosphere. The Cascade Conference has changed its golf meet format so that every team plays each other during conference matches, instead of a few teams playing at one course, then rotating like last year. The boys head coach Steve Jones said he expected the increased crowds and competition to ready his golfers for the conference, district and state championships.

“It gives us a tournament format, a tournament feel,” Jones said.

“When we get into districts, into state, that’s what we want is tournament experience.”

The first Falcon girls golf conference tournament is at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 15. The first boys golf meet is against Glacier Peak (Snohomish) at 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 20 at Useless Bay Golf & Country Club.