by Alexander Maier ’15, Sports Section Editor
Men’s varsity golf finished the season strong but didn’t advance to state. However, senior Ishan Ghildyal fought through every rain delay at districts to come out as runner up and advance to the state tournament by shooting a 75.
Ishan led the team to multiple wins this year by consistently scoring low. He averaged a 38 (or two over par) this season. This was the lowest average out of the 23 golfers in the MVC. The rest of this year’s Indian’s golf team proved to be strong as well. Alexander Maier had the second lowest average on the team with a 43.8. Jacob Engelke averaged a 45.57 and Patrick Wildman followed closely with an average of 45.75. Taylor Maier averaged a 46.80. Andrew Engelke rounded out the team with an average of 47.00.
The Indians exhibited strong season this year. They split their matches in the MVC. Coach Greg Faulhaber commented on the season by saying, “Overall I’d say it was a success. We made it to Districts for the 4th straight year, beat several Division 1 teams, and split most of our matches with MVC opponents. Plus we had an individual (Ishan) qualify for the State tournament.” Ishan reflected on the season by saying, “I think we made some really solid improvements as a group. Everyone on the team really worked hard to improve their games. We lost four seniors last year so we thought this year might be a little tough but we all worked very hard to play out best this year. Everybody really stepped up to the challenge and I couldn’t have asked for a better senior season.”
Compared to last season, this year’s team was less experienced with playing on the varsity. Both Jacob Engelke and Alexander Maier played last season on varsity but didn’t play in very many matches. Taylor Maier had 2 season of varsity golf under his belt, but had limited play time. This year the team added freshman, Andrew Engelke, and junior, Leonard Behrens. Both Andrew and Leonard proved to the team that they will be strong competitors next year.
Varsity boy’s golf will be losing two valuble seniors mentors in Ishan Ghildyal and Patrick Wildman. They were the people that the younger teammates looked up to when they were either in a funk or just needed some cheering up. I had the opportunity to play with Patrick multiple times throughout the season. I knew that if I had a bad shot or couldn’t sink
a putt, Patrick would soon cheer me on and tell me to move on and worry about the next shot. I also had the opportunity to play with Ishan. We had a match against Elder at Waldon Ponds to prepare for MVC. Ishan cared about shooting well that match. He also cared about taking the time and focus out of his round to help me to play well on that course. The values both Ishan and Patrick showed, demonstrated their roles as the team leaders. We are losing two people that have the ability to shoot low and help carry the team on their backs. Coach Faulhaber commented on losing two seniors by saying, “It means others are going to have to step up their game if the team wants to compete on a regular basis. That’s a role that I can’t assign. Someone has to want
it badly enough that they are willing to put in extra time and effort.” The team will have three juniors returning to golf next year. The hope is that they will step
up and play well in hopes of returning to the state tournament.
Faulhaber stated, “The expectations for next year are the same as every year – keep improving and always give yourself a chance to win.” Hopefully, the team can keep improving and return to the State tournament as a team once again.
