Glenn Walls tops boys squad with eyes on 2011 state title
Most of what the International Falls’ golf teams had going for them last season is back in 2011.
The boys team, ranked second in the state with a scoring average of 306.0, also returns the second-ranked player in the state, senior Glenn Walls, who averaged 71.6. Walls tied for fifth at the 2010 state tournament.
In 10 regular season meets last year, the Bronco boys placed first twice, second seven times and third once. Walls also recorded a pair of individual invitational first-place finishes, one second and a sixth.
The boys team also returns junior Brett Musich, ranked sixth in the state with a 74.8 average. Musich tied for seventh at the state tournament. Senior Derek Riley, ranked 11th in the state with a 75.5 average, is back as is another senior in his fourth year of varsity golf, Jeff Shermoen.
Head coach Bill Mason, who begins his 16th year at the helm of Falls’ golf program, said the boys lost only one golfer from the 2010 squad to graduation, Shane Dexter, and this year has “lots of experience as well as talent” to go along with a “promising group of younger golfers.”
Other players returning for 2011 include junior Joel Skirten, sophomores Lucas DeBenedet, Zach Manka, Alex Kennedy, Nick Anderson, Wes Gunnerson and Adam Matthews, and freshman Brady Walls.
Mason said he hopes the boys will be “staying positive and believing in themselves that they can be state champions.”
He said their goals include winning as many meets as possible, winning the Section 7AA title and making “a good run to win the state tournament.”
On the girls team, which in 2010 came in third in the first round of sections and qualified for the second day of the section golf tournament, there are no graduation losses from last season with all the players returning. In nine regular season meets, the girls placed second four times, third once, sixth twice and ninth twice.
“Everyone has experience in (regular season) meets and section meets,” Mason said. “(We) should compete for (the) top team in Section 7AA.”
The top returning girls include senior Maggie West, a top five finisher in the Section tournament and a qualifier for the state tournament, where she tied for 66th. West and a returning junior, Kelly Blair, made the all-tournament team at the Virginia invite.
Other returning girls golfers include senior Jessica Duchnicki, juniors Malinda Porter and Alyssa Bergstrom, freshman Katie West, and eighth-graders Jena Anderson and Tessa Walls.
Mason said the goals for the girls players include having them “compete and finish high in the regular season meets (and) be very competitive in our section tournament with a realistic chance of being section champions.”
Though he is concerned about having good weather to play in with the local golf course having remained closed at the beginning of April, unlike last year, Mason said he is looking forward to the boys and girls teams reaching their potential. He expects Hermantown and Virginia will be teams to watch out for this season.
