East High Golf (Regional Edition) - Monday, May 15, 2023

On Sunday the East High boys golf team traveled to the happiest place on earth, Manhattan, Kansas, to compete in their 6A regional golf tournament.  Before we were to get down to business on Monday, the team took part in a variety of fun activities, including: learning the nuances of sand green golf at the Peabody Country Club; savoring the deliciousness of Freddy’s in Junction City; getting a first-hand look at the Manhattan Country Club during a practice round; partying at one of Aggieville’s more notorious hot spots, Chipotle; and finally, discovering just how sweet Connie, the front desk person at the Best Western, actually was.  Sunday was a great day.

Monday dawned, and as expected, dark clouds filled the sky.  Rain had been anticipated, but we were hopeful it might just miss us.  No such luck.  We arrived at the course around 9:00, and by 9:30, it was steadily raining.  And while it never really opened up and poured, it didn’t stop raining until 3:00 or so.  On our way to the course we talked about the possibility of miserable conditions, and how many of the golfers wouldn’t be able to handle it mentally.  If they could avoid being one of those golfers, we would be in good shape.  I firmly believe that all of them believed me and understood what I was saying, but it is SO much easier said than done.  Trying to hold it together for five hours on an incredibly difficult (but really cool, I might add) golf course, in cold, wet conditions, is really tough.  Our boys did their best, but it was a struggle.

As previously reported, two of our golfers ended up qualifying for next week’s state tournament.  As the tournament got closer to kicking off, and the atmospheric conditions worsened, my excitement actually ticked up a bit because bad weather would probably favor the more mentally tough golfers; I truly thought Talen Nasone could win the whole tournament.  In addition to his physical talent, Talen has proven all year to be one of the most mentally-strong golfers I have ever been around.  Yeah, he might get frustrated when things aren’t going perfect, but that’s the case with all golfers.  But his ability to remain calm, to not get to high or too low, and to bounce back, is truly unmatched.  I felt that, as the tournament wore on, contenders would slowly fall by the wayside due to their frustration with the weather.  And while Talen did remain strong mentally, sometimes you just don’t have your “A” game.  And wouldn’t all of us love to have an off-day where we shoot 79 and finish tied for 4^th.  I know I would.

Anderson Tung also qualified for the state tournament for the second year in a row.  Anderson will be the first to tell you that his day went nothing like he had hoped.  In his own right, Anderson is mentally strong as well and is constantly looking on the bright side.  But the course and the conditions became too much, and unfortunately, Anderson shot his worst score of the year, by a wide margin (97), and finished 18^th.  But as expected, when I first saw him after his round was complete, he was upbeat, because he was just certain that his score was going to be good enough to get him to state.  And it was.  Survive and advance.  That’s what it’s all about this time of year.

The rest of our team had a mixed bag of feelings regarding their rounds; some were content with how they played, while others were extremely disappointed.  Hagen Shane maintained a solid attitude in his first ever regional appearance, shooting a 108 to place 25^th.  Henry White bounced back nicely from his play a week ago at our league tournament, carding a 109 to finish tied for 26^th.  Donovan Bergen got off to a great start (his first shot of the tournament was a topped drive that traveled 20 yards, followed by three great shots for a miraculous bogey), but struggled from thereon, slogging his way to a 119 and 34^th place.  It was, unfortunately, his worst score of the year.  And Owen Knipp had a few nice moments out there, but there were too many big numbers mixed in to recover from.  Owen shot a 120 to finish 35^th.

I mentioned earlier that I thought Talen had a chance to win the tournament, and my instincts proved correct.  The tournament was won by Jackson Ellison from Wichita Heights, a player that Talen has beaten (I believe) in every tournament this season.  But that’s golf…somedays you’ve got it (like Jackson did), and some days you don’t.  And I don’t want to downplay Jackson’s accomplishment, nor give you the impression that he isn’t actually a good player.  He is a good player, really good.  Really talented, and really athletic.  He doesn’t even practice golf…he’s a baseball player!  He just shows up at the tournaments and plays.  Literally.  He’s also a super-nice kid, so I was really happy for him.  If he played golf full-time, he’d be incredible.  For complete tournament results, click here.

The boys were disappointed on many levels, but the biggest one may have involved the possibility that our entire team could qualify for state.  We knew going in we would be competing against Southeast for that third spot, but when four of your players shoot their worst scores of the season, it makes it difficult.  We missed out on the third place spot by 14 shots.  Hopefully that bad taste sticks with them throughout the summer, and motivates them to work on their games so that next year we can turn the tables.  But as it turns out, that bad taste was actually removed soon after the conclusion of the tournament, as we enjoyed one last team dinner at a place they all probably went to bed dreaming about the night before: Raising Cane’s.  I have to admit, it was pretty good.