Heath Hutcheson, Campus Carrier sports editor
Berry’s golf teams are looking forward to the upcoming conference championship on April 26. Both teams are currently fourth in the conference, with the men’s most recent match being the Wynlakes Invitational hosted by Huntingdon College on April 2.
For the match, five players were chosen to travel to Montgomery, Ala. Those five players were freshmen Noah Farland, Tyler Wengronowitz, and Cam Baker, as wel as sophomore Landon Painter and junior Kevin Verrill. Across the first 18 holes, all of the players shot within the 70’s range with a total score of 299 with the lowest score coming from Landon Painter with a score of 73 (+1). Noah Farland would lead the second day with a score of 69 (-3) shooting eight birdies total, which has been the lowest score this Spring season. The rest of the Vikings stayed in the 70’s range again. Noah Farland would also receive the honor of Athlete of the Week from the Southern Athletic Association for his notable performance.
Coach Brian Farrer felt good about the team’s showing but still thinks there are plenty of individual skills that need to be worked on.
“I think for the most part it went well, though I would have liked for us to get a bit more out of our rounds, but they have been a great group to travel with,” Farrer said.
The conference championship is stirring a lot of tension for the men’s team in the coming weeks. Junior Charles Kyle expressed some of his feelings about where the team is in comparison to previous seasons.
“We have 18 guys on the team, whereas previous years we have had about 10 or 11, so I think the depth on the team is greater than previous years,” Kyle said. “More options definitely helps us going into tournaments, but I think that we have so many great players, it’s really tough to find the best five to go to each event.”
While the men’s team has seen a lot of new players joining the roster this past year, the women’s team has unfortunately lost a couple.
“On the women’s side, we started with eight this year, but we’re down to six now,” Farrer said. “We had one freshman who had to return home and another who is currently studying abroad. If we had a bigger team, we’d have more people to pull from when picking five to go to each tournament, but I think the girls have handled that well.”
The women’s last match was the Jekyll Island Invitational on March 24, which the men also attended. The women placed twelfth overall, but managed to beat conference opponent Oglethorpe University. Senior Teagan Fritts and junior Sydney Bowes led the match, both shooting 82 overall.
Farrer believes that being able to bring six players into the championship will really benefit the women’s team.
“Coming down the stretch, I think if we play well, we can really give those other teams a run for their money,” Farrer said.
For both teams, the main opponents in their sights are Oglethorpe, along with Sewanee University and Rhodes College, which Kyle expressed won’t go down easily.
“Our biggest rival is Oglethorpe, and in order to get to the national championship, we’re going to have to win the conference,” Kyle said. “To do that, we have to beat Oglethorpe, and our men’s depth is greater than theirs.”
Coach Farrer thinks that both team’s strength in driving will prove a great benefit moving forward, and even past the championship, he has a lot of hope for how the teams will grow in the future.
“I feel like we do well off the tee,” Farrer said. “The men are sitting fourth in the conference of the eight schools and the women are sitting fourth out of sixteen schools. Our goal right now is to be in the top two or three and I’m excited about it.”