(Oakland) Riverside has some promising golfers eager to get out on the course for the 2021 season.
The Bulldogs have a lot to replace from the last couple of years, plus senior Wyatt Hough is out with a torn ACL. They will have a couple of key pieces to build around. Coach Mitch Rice says, “We’ll have Ethan Reicks as a senior this year. He’s been very competitive since he was a freshman. We’re excited to see what he can do. He and Jace Rose will probably be out 1-2. Jace is a junior who was very competitive as a freshman. It felt like every time I was out at the golf course last year those guys were out there in the summertime playing. That made me feel good that they were out working on their game.”
Riverside was a sectional champ two years ago and missed out on the state tourney by one spot. Last year they felt they would have again had a team capable of making a run. However, this year’s team will be very young beyond their top two.
The girls squad will be in a similar situation with a lot of quality golfers to replace. They bring back just one player from a team that made the second round of regionals two years ago. “McKenna Sick will be a junior for us this year and she should lead the way. The only other girl that I really know a lot about is an incoming freshman whose sister played for us a couple of years ago, it’s Addison Brink. She’s out at the golf course all the time, it’s a golf family. She’s been to my golf camp a couple years and I’m really excited to see what she can do as an incoming freshman.”
Fortunately for Riverside if the weather is less than stellar for outdoor practices they can accomplish a lot inside. “We have an indoor simulator that we can use with some hitting nets. We have some indoor mats that we use. Kudos to our community for supporting us and we are in the process of talking to the golf course about taking one of the cart barns that aren’t being used and turning that into a full indoor facility with some of this stuff that we’ve purchased. So we have opportunities.”
Riverside begins the season April 9th at IKM-Manning.
