East High Golf (GWAL JV Edition) - Monday, May 8, 2023

(L to R) Alec Gatzulis, Arri Reilly and Ismail Saeed.
On Monday, May 8, the East High JV golf team headed to Tex Consolver Golf Course to play in their final competition of the season: the GWAL JV Championship.  The weather was about what I think of when I think of golf in Kansas, although we haven’t yet experienced much this season: sunny, warm to almost hot, with a decent, but not overwhelming, breeze.

Arri Reilly was the first to tee off for East.  As I was standing on the tee box ready to watch him, I glanced down and realized, to my disgust, that I was wearing a black belt with navy blue shorts!  Would this fashion faux paus be a harbinger of the horrors our golfers were about to experience?  After a couple of deep breaths, and after convincing myself that no, I didn’t need to go home and change, I watched Arri smash a drive that literally gave me goose bumps.  It was that good.  And I thought, “today might be a really good day after all”.

The truth of the day, as it is with most things, was somewhere in between.  For Arri, I saw him at his best, and I saw him at his lowest point.  But most of his day was somewhere in between those two points.  His group also got around the course quickly, finishing in three hours and 55 minutes, which is excellent.  He ended up shooting a 117 to finish in a tie for 25th.  Ironically enough, he tied with…

East High’s Alec Gatzulis.  Alec’s day was also a bit up and down.  He had some really exciting moments (his first ever greens in regulation, which he did multiple times; along with a couple of pars), and, as is the case with most rounds of golf, some really frustrating moments.  But, as he has done all year, he didn’t let the frustrating moments get to him.  He has maintained a great attitude all season, and I have absolutely loved his sense of humor.

Ismail Saeed, like the aforementioned truth of the day, teed off somewhere in between Arri and Alec.  And like Arri and Alec, he had a few stellar moments, few not-so-stellar moments, and a whole lot of in between.  But with all of that, Ismail posted East High’s best score (111) and finished tied for 20th.

As is the case with most golf events in Wichita, the leaderboard was dominated by players from Kapaun and Carroll.  In fact, the top 14 finishers were from those schools, and the winner was Jason Brokaw, a junior from Kapaun who shot a one-over 73.  That’s pretty good.  For complete tournament results, click here.

The season is now complete for Ismail, Arri & Alec, but looking towards the future, there is a lot to be excited about.  These golfers, along with our entire squad, are very young, and with continued improvement, the East High golf team should be ultra-competitive over the next 2-3 years.  I hope they are as excited about that as I am.

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