(Oakland) With the players they have returning from last year, Riverside was in line for a strong showing in both boys and girls golf.
The Lady Dawgs didn’t have a lot to replace from last season. Coach Mitch Rice says, “We have three of our top four back with Bailey Faxon, Bailey Wiese, and Meghan Reed. We lost Jill Blakely, but we have a sophomore that I think can fill in nicely with McKenna Sick. After making the regional finals last year they were a group that thought they might take the next step this year.”
Riverside averaged 454.5 on their 18 hole rounds last year and would like to bring that figure down. In addition to the returning players from last year, two freshmen planned to join the team this year, but their ability level remains to be seen as practices hadn’t gotten rolling prior to the spring sports suspension.
The boys team returns their entire varsity group. “I think they missed going to state last year by six strokes,” says coach Rice. “They are pretty hungry. They’ve been chomping at the bit for me to get the simulator set up.”
Taten Williams, Ethan Reiks, Wyatt Hough, Jace Rose, and Cadien Goodman all averaged between 45 and 49 strokes per nine holes last year. Jacob Erickson and Dustin Herring both have a chance to contribute at the varsity level and some impressive freshmen join the fold with Tyler Reed and Keaton Perkins.
May 1st is the earliest possible date for a return of spring sports. On Friday the spring sports suspension was extended through April 30th to coincide with school closures.
