Red Devil golf begins season with a win

Mark Madia, Herlad Sports Editor
Posted 8/14/18

Golf season kicks off in Pinedale

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Red Devil golf begins season with a win

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EVANSTON­ — As this Tuesday’s issue of the Herald rolls out, the fall sports season teams will have completed their first day of practice with day two getting underway for football, volleyball, girls’ swimming and diving and cross-country, for both guys and gals. 

Red Devil and Lady Red Devil golf, on the other hand, have already notched a competition. Evanston was one of six teams taking part in the Pinedale Invite this past Thursday and Friday, August 9 and 10, joining Star Valley, Jackson, Kemmerer, Lyman and the host school to open the fall season at Pinedale’s nine-hole Rendezvous Meadows Golf Course.

Evanston enjoyed a successful first outing. The Red Devils placed first with a team score of 635, besting runner-up Star Valley by 44 strokes, as the Braves aggregate was 679 for the 36-hole tournament.

The top four individual scores were all Red Devils. Returning all-state golfers Braxton Lind and Dom D’Anzi placed first and third, respectively, with all-conference Red Devil Brady Hurd placing second; Hurd was just on the outside looking in for all-state honors last spring. 

Mason Smith of Evanston rounded out the overall top-four finishers for the tourney on the guys’ side.

Returning two-time, all-state golfer Kyra Sponenberg placed first among the fairer-gender competitors with a 182 total, comprised of identical rounds of 91, separating her from the rest of the field by 17 strokes.

Lind fired a scorching 69 on Thursday but came in with a round of 86 on Friday.

“A young golfer with Braxton’s type of talent really helps us with that kind of score,” coach Jerry Carroll told the Herald, referring to Lind’s tournament-best round of 69 on Thursday.

“When we’ve had golfers like Brock Ehlers, capable of scores in the 60s, that takes the pressure off the rest of the team.”

Carroll’s benchmark has always been for his top-four male golfers, whose scores comprise the team total, to shoot rounds of 80 or better, equating to 320 strokes for a first-day total and a combined 640 tally for a 36-hole tourney.

In addition to Lind’s 69/86 rounds for the first-place aggregate of 155, Hurd finished one stroke back at 156, with consistent rounds 77 and 79.

D’Anzi opened with an 84 on Thursday but came in with a career-best, second-day round of 75 on Friday, for a 159 total, garnering third-place honors.

Smith was equally steady with back-to-back, 18-hole totals of 83 and 82, good for a tied-for-fourth-place total of 165.

Mason Ellingford’s scores of 87/86 earned a seventh-place finish in the field of 30 golfers, with a two-day total of 173.

Though Sponenburg ran away with the best individual score among the high-school girls in the season opener, she was the lone representative for the Lady Red Devils, so Evanston did not qualify in team scoring.

The golf teams began practice on August 6, some 21 days before the school year begins. They start at 7:30 each morning and practice until about noon.

“It’s a half-day of practice. It takes kids away from their jobs, takes them out of summer,” Carroll explained. 

“You have to be dedicated to compete in golf for Evanston High School,” the coach added.

The boys’ team returns everyone from last season and Carroll was pleased with the team’s opening performance, citing his golfers did what was requested in “spending time and effort on golf during the summer season.”

“They did what they were asked to do and I hope they reap rewards from those efforts. We got off to a good start,” Carroll said of his boys’ team.

Three freshmen girls came out for golf to join returning letter-winner Sponenburgh, and Carroll said another girl should join the team once she returns from summer vacation to round out a roster of five. The younger girls lack experience and did not participate in the Pinedale Invite.

The coach also acknowledged that while Star Valley is a good 3A squad and Pinedale is a good 2A team, the caliber of competition will be significantly stronger in the 4A ranks and both his Evanston golf teams are young.

“We’ll likely have our ups and downs, but we will compete in our conference,” Carroll said of his boys’ team.

With only Sponenburgh having a good deal of golf experience, Carroll understands his young girls’ team will probably not compete for a conference crown this season and that Sponenburgh will have an individual focus.

“Kyra should focus on becoming an individual medalist. The girls from Casper and Cheyenne will make that goal challenging and tough for her to accomplish,” Carroll said.

It was four consecutive days of golf for Sponenburgh and Lind as both followed up their Pinedale Invite outing by competing in the Purple Sage Golf Club club championship tournament on Saturday and Sunday, August 11-12. 

Sponenburgh was paired with and finished second overall to returning champion and Rutgers University women’s golf coach, Kari Williams.

Evanston is scheduled to compete in Star Valley today, August 14, in a tournament Carroll believed would feature five or six teams. Evanston will then travel to Rock Springs for a dual meet against the Tigers on Thursday, August 16, before hosting their first competition on August 23-24 at the Purple Sage Golf Course.