GIRLS GOLF
NORTH ROBINSON —The Colonel Crawford Lady Eagles golf team is back in 2019 for their second season of full-team action under head coach Veronica “Roni” Halberg. Halberg coached the team last season to an overall and league record of 2-8. The Lady Eagles play their home matches at Valley View Golf Course in Galion.
Like many young programs, Halberg’s Lady Eagles return their entire roster this season while also adding two newcomers to the mix.
Among the golfers returning is Maci Risner. Risner posted a nine-hole average of 57.75 a season ago for Colonel Crawford, good for Northern-10 Athletic Conference honorable mention honors.
Returning players joining Risner are Katie Reynolds, Lexie Hillman and Chelsea Daubenspeck, all claiming varsity letters during the 2018 fall season. Additionally, Mariah Cotsamire and Katie Hanft have joined the squad and are, according to Halberg, “showing a lot of promise.”
Colonel Crawford, like in every other sport, is a member of the N-10 conference and, despite having nine teams in that conference, only have six schools that participate in girls golf: Upper Sandusky, Crawford, Seneca East, Mohawk, Wynford and Buckeye Central. In fact, girls golf has only been a recognized sport in the conference since the 2016 season. In that short existence, Buckeye Central has claimed all three conference championship titles.
Halberg has optimism that the team will continue to grow, in experience and in numbers.
”With this being just year two of a new program, we are hoping to win more matches,” she begins. “Not knowing much about the other teams, I can’t really predict where we will end up, but we are working towards the middle of the pack (in the conference. As of now, all matches scheduled are league matches and I’m hoping to get more of my athletes onto the first- or second-team all-conference lists.”
To begin the season, the Lady Eagles defeated the Upper Sandusky Lady Rams back on Thursday, August 6; 259-268. On Wednesday, August 14, Crawford edged Wynford; 237-238. Regular season league play will continue until the N-10 tournament at Valley View held on Monday, September 17.
BOYS GOLF
NORTH ROBINSON — The 2019 edition of the Colonel Crawford boys golf team is hoping for an improvement over their output in 2018 as they did not win a league match in head-to-head, Northern-10 Athletic Conference competition.
But that was in 2018 and the ‘19 Eagles, once again coached by two veterans in Brett Kaple and Nate Hill, enter this fall with some key names returning.
Gavin Feichtner, Seth Lohr and Cyler Hoepf all return for Kaple and Hill this season. Feichtner, the team’s reigning Most Valuable Player will be going for his third varsity letter in this, his senior season. Lohr and Hoepf will be looking to pick up letter number two this fall on the links and will hope to fill the void left by the graduation of AJ Johnson and Andy Brause.
In addition to the returning lettermen, keep an eye out for newcomers Caleb Christman, Brennan Hamilton and Cole Zender in 2019 as the Eagles “try to improve and get better each time we are on the course,” says Kaple in an email.
As far as the battle in the N-10 goes, it seems to be similar to most every year.
“Upper Sandusky and Seneca East will battle for first while Carey, Bucyrus and Wynford will all battle and have a chance for the third and fourth place team spots,” states Kaple.
The Rams of Upper Sandusky are the reigning champs while their standout, Brett Montgomery, has won the Golfer of the Year award in the conference for the previous three seasons and is shooting for number four in his senior year.
Crawford began league play back on Tuesday, August 13 and fell to those Rams; 160-225. Two days later, the Eagles dropped their contest with the Carey Blue Devils to begin the year at 0-2; 164-199. League play will now continue until the conference tournament on Tuesday, September 17 at Valley View Golf Course in Galion.
