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April 22, 2010 I The Lovell Chronicle I 9
Golfers improve with the weather; look good in Thermop, Lovell
BY DAVID PECK
The weather turned nice for
the Lovell High School golf team
last week, and after shaking off
the winter rust in Worland the
week before, LHS golfers im-
proved their performances - and
their scores - at tournaments in
Thermopolis Friday and at home
in Lovell Saturday.
"We played a lot better Fri-
day," coach Ben Fowler said. "The
rweather was fantastic,, and the
:kids played good golf."
Fowler said team scores for
ithe boys teams were much closer
:Friday and the Bulldogs were
:competitive. Cody won the Ther-
mop tournament with a 320 score,
:followed by Powell at 330, River-
ton 341, Lander 344, Lovell 350
land Worland 396.
Senior Evan Frost placed
!sixth with a final score of 82, im-
proving from the 85 he shot in
Worland one week earlier.
"He felt better about himself,"
Fowler said. "Each week he keeps
cutting a couple of strokes."
Number two golfer Cody King
:shot an 86 at Thermopolis, slash-
ing 27 shots from his score at Wor-
land the week before.
"What a great improvement!"
Fowler marveled. "He worked on
his irons last week. I'll take an 86
Srom Cody King at every tourna-
Jordan Frost putts on the ninth
green during the spring Lovell
Invitational Golf Tournament
Saturday at Foster Gulch. She
finished 15th with a score of
135.
ment."
Third golfer Jared Minchow
shot a 92 at Thermop, and Fowler
said he was glad to see the junior
staying in the low 90s.
"That's where we're hoping
to be," Fowler said. "There are a
few parts of his game he needs to
work on, and the biggest part is
confidence."
Junior Jeff Lewis competed in
his first tournament of the spring,
having missed the Worland tour-
ney, and shot a 90.
"That was his first outing and
he picked up where he left off in
the fall," Fowler said. "We want to
keep him there (in the low 90s). If
he can control his driver and im-
prove his putting stroke he'll be in
the 80s."
Lovell's fifth golfer was Ka-
leb Hitz. The freshman improved
from a 113 in Worland to a 98 in
Thermop.
"Good for him," Fowler said.
"He's looking up as a freshman.
He's looking to improve every
week."
Lovell took one female golfer
to Thermop, and junior Mason
Fowler placed fifth with a score of
103. Father/coach Ben said Ma-
son is consistently competing ev-
ery week and is very competitive
in Class 2A.
LOVELL TOURNAMENT
Lovell welcomed six schools to
the Lovell Invitational Saturday. •
Cody won the boys division with
a score of 309, but Lovell was a
strong second at the familiar Fos-
ter Gulch course with a score of
363, finishing ahead of Moorcroft
with a score of 408, Wright at 415
and Sundance at 437. Also com-
peting but not fielding a full team
were Worland and Hulett. -
Fowler said he was extremely
pleased, noting, "Cody is (Class)
3A, but the rest are 2A. We fin-
ished ahead of Moorcroft by 45
strokes. That's a lot of strokes.
That's fantastic going into Re-
gionals. We're excited we did that
well. That boosted our kids up."
Frost finished fourth, and
Lewis and King were knocking on
the door of a top-10 finish. Lewis
finished llth, King 12th.
"That's fantastic," Fowler said.
"We do compete well with teams
that are in 2A. We match up well.
It was a great day. You couldn't
ask for better weather and a bet-
ter booster for the team."
DAVID PECK PHOTOS
Lovell junior Jared Minchow blasts his way onto the green during the Lovell golf tournament
Saturday at Foster Gulch. The Bulldogs compete in Northeast Wyoming this weekend.
Frost shot under 80 for the
first time this spring, shooting 36-
43=79 to place fourth.
"He improved his game Fri-
day and it showed even more on
his own home course Saturday,"
Fowler said. "He's got the swing.
He's slowly coming back (from
last fall's crash) a stroke at a time.
He's a senior leader and we'll look
to him for a lot of leadership at
Regionals in Moorcroft."
King struggled on the front
nine with a 49, then improved to
43 on the second nine for a Score of
92, two strokes from the top 10.
Minchow shot 47-53=101 for
16th place out of 31 golfers, and
Fowler said he was still strug-
gling with his confidence, noting,
"If we can get confidence out of
Jared Minchow, we can get a good
score out of him."
Lewis shot 47-44=91, one
stroke from the top 10,
"Jeffis showing a lot of consis-
tency," Fowler said. "If he keeps it
up and shaves a stroke here and
there he'll be in the 80s, too, and
that's where we want him."
GIRLS COMPETE
Lovell fielded a complete girls
team (three golfers) for the first
time Saturday, Fowler noted, and
finished fourth with a score of 376
behind champion Moorcroft with
312, Sundance at 327 and Wright
at 345.
Mason Fowler placed fifth
with a score of 55-49=104, and
Coach Fowler noted that there
were only two 2A golfers ahead of
her.
"She's showing huge consis-
tency," he said. "She just needs to
work on her short game and her
putting stroke, some small things
to improve on. I'm proud of her
for being right there. She's sitting
where she needs to sit and is lead-
ing our girls team."
Jordan Frost shot a score of
64-66=135 to place 15th out of 21
golfers Saturday, which Fowler
said was good for her first tourna-
ment.
"She had some first-outing jit-
ters, but to finish 15th is fantastic.
I see nothing but improvement and
improved confidence from her."
Melissa Ellis was right behind
her teammate in 16th place at 66-
71=137.
"I'm proud of them both for
stepping up," Fowler said. "Me-
lissa probably tired on the back
nine, and she broke her favorite 5
wood. That might have come into
play."
IFFY WEATHER
The Bulldogs are scheduled to
compete in Sundance Friday and
Moorcroft Saturday, weather per-
mitting, Fowler said. He said the
"whole goal for the weekend" is
to see the Moorcroft course, since
that's where the regional tourna-
ment will be held.
But although the weather has
been great for practice in Lovell
this week, Fowler said there was
an 80 percent chance of snow in
Moorcroft on Saturday. He said
the team will be shorthanded with
Evan Frost and King attending
the music festival in Thermopolis
Friday and Saturday.
Rocky thinclads thin at Riverside, Powell meets
held Friday night, the team
was short several athletes
for the two meets.
Only a handful of thin-
clads attended the Riverside
Invitational Friday in Basin,
but the Rocky boys scored 26
team points to place sixth
BY DAVID PECK
The short-handed Rocky
Mountain Grizzlies put to-
gether the best team they
could for the Riverside and
Powell track meets Friday
and Saturday, but with the
RMHS Junior Prom being
DAvm PECK
Rocky Mountain sophomore Caleb Estes flies
through the air while competing in the triple jump
Friday at the track meet in Basin.
out of eight teams. The girls
scored just 5 points and fin-
ished eighth.
It wasn't much better
at the larger L.A. Kohnke
Invitational in Powell Sat-
urday. The Rocky boys fin-
ished 10th with 2 points
and the girls 10th with 3.5
points. Several RMHS ath-
letes competed in the junior
varsity division Saturday.
Rocky runners were
solid and scored most of the
Grizzlies' team points Fri-
day in Basin. The 1,600-me-
ter relay team of Michael
Bernhisel, Bryce Ward,
Ethan Strom and Bra-
dy Winland captured first
place with a time of 4:03.46,
and the foursome also com-
peted well individually.
Winland placed third
in the 400-meter dash with
a time of 59.72, and Ward
was eighth at 1:01.66. Ward
was also seventh in the JV
division Saturday at Powell
with a time of 1:01.33.
Bernhisel placed fourth
in the 3,200 meters Friday
with a season-best time of
11:37.08. Saturday in Pow-
ell, he placed third in the JV
1,600 meters with a time of
5:19.19, his best time of the
season.
Strom placed seventh in
the 200-meter dash Friday
with a time of 25.75 and ran
his season-best time of 12.57
in the 100, finishing 14th.
Derik Romero placed eighth
in the 100 Friday with a
time of 12.13.
Caleb Estes fmished
12th in the 100-meter dash
Friday at 12.53, and sec-
ond in the JV division in
the 200-meter dash Satur-
day with a time of 26.02.
Ward was ninth in the JV
200 Saturday at 27.32. Dal-
ton Banks finished 18th in
the 100 Friday in Basin at
DAVID PECK
Rocky Mountain runners (l-r) Hannah Parker, Kellie Schmidt and Brianna
Hocker keep the pace with each other while running the 100-meter race Friday
at the track meet in Basin.
12.90.
In field events, senior
Jeff Sanders missed Fri-
day's meet but came back to
place seventh in Powell Sat-
urday in the discus, tossing
the disc a season-best 122-
1½.
Estes placed eighth in
the triple jump Friday at
33-6, and in the long jump,
Romero finished 12th Fri-
day by jumping 16-2, and
Winland was 17th at 14-8.
In throwing events, Tra-
vis Hatch finished 14th in
the shot put Friday with a
throw of 29-7½, and he was
17th in the discus at 73-6.
Adam Larsen was 17th in
the shot put Friday at 26-8
and threw 24-4½ Saturday
in Powell. He threw the dis-
cus 72-11 Friday and 65-1½
Saturday. Jake Bose threw
the shot 21-9 Friday. Allred finished 10th in
Only five female ath- the triple jump Friday at 25-
letes competed Fridayin Ba- 6, and Hocker was 14th in
sin, four Saturday in Powell. the long jump at 11-6 1/4.
Kallee Hernandez did not Only AshleyBridges
compete Friday but won the competed in the throwing
junior varsity triple jump
Saturday in Powell with a
leap of 31-7½.
Senior Leslie Blackburn
also came back Saturday in
Powell to clear a season-best
4-11 in the high jump, plac-
ing in a tie for fifth.
Rachel Allred won the
junior varsity 800-meter run
Saturday with a time of 2:57
and running 2:57.17 Friday
in Basin, placing fourth. In
the sprints, Brianna Hocker
finished 16th in the 100-me-
ter dash on Friday with a
time of 15.37. Hannah Park-
er ran 15.81, Kellie Schmidt
15.88.
events Friday and Saturday.
She placed seventh in the
JV shot put Saturday with a
throw of 20-9 after throwing
21-3½ Friday for 17th place.
She threw the discus 49 feet
on Friday and 39-1/4 Satur-
day, placing ninth in the JV
division.
The Grizzlies and Lady
Grizz will compete in Lovell
Saturday at the Lovell Invi-
tational. Field events begin
at 10 a.m., running events
at 11:30.
Attempts to reach coach
Dave Beemer for comment
this week were unsuccess-
ful.
