BOYS GOLF PREVIEW

Walters coaching two teams at once

On Wednesday, the Sheboygan North girls have golf regionals in Fond du Lac while the boys have the county meet at Blackwolf Run and the varsity reserve competes in Fox Hills. There was also supposed to be a freshman event that day, but it got cancelled.

Welcome to what Craig Walters, who coaches the boys and girls teams, calls organized chaos.

“I’ve just been sitting at my computer for the last hour trying to figure out who’s playing (this) week, when they’re playing, when the buses are leaving because we don’t take vans because of COVID,” he said.

Walters and his assistant coach, Ryan Schmitz, will attend the regional. Volunteer assistant Max Van Veghel will go to Fox Hills and North teacher Tiffany Diven gets a chance to make her ‘coaching’ debut with the boys in Kohler.

“She’s been asking (to help) for years,” Walters said.

Because of the alternative fall season, practice for girls golf was first held in late March and ends with the state tournament in mid-May. Practice for the boys began April 19 and North already hosted a 40-team invitational three days later.

This is Walters’ first season as coach of the boys, and the teacher already knows he’s going to his place up north once their season ends in June.

“I’ll golf because I like to golf, but it will be for relaxation,” he said.

TEAMS AT A GLANCE

CHRISTIAN

The Eagles were supposed to return all five golfers last year and three of them are back are juniors Michael Modahl, Will Grasse and Josiah Stecker. In 2019, Modahl placed 11th at the league championship and Grasse was 14th. But he is coming off a knee injury that kept him from playing soccer and basketball. … “With his leadership, along with our other talented athletes, we feel we have the opportunity to finish near the top of the Big East and make a run in the Division 3 postseason,” coach Todd Wagner said.

LUTHERAN

ANDREW MEADOR returns as a key member of Lutheran’s golf team. – Photo by Jenni Pickel

Chris Hirt is the new coach. He’s the head golf pro at Riverdale Country Club and led the Howards Grove program from 2008-15. … The Crusaders have been to the previous two state tournaments, but Drake Wilcox, who became his school’s first WIAA champion in 2019, graduated last season. … Seniors Andrew Meador and Lizzie Montaba will be counted on, as will senior Cole Adameak and junior Jackson Holzheimer. … “We will have some healthy competition within our team to see who will play each match,” Hirt said. “We expect to be very competitive … and hopefully be in the conversation for the Big East Conference Championship.”

NORTH

Last year, Craig Walters was hired to replace former coach Andrew Delong after spending eight seasons as his assistant. He’s in his 18th season as girls coach, which is also golfing now. Based on the first couple of boys meets, he expects to fight for a conference championship. Mason Schmidtke won the first 18-hold FRCC meet shooting even par.

SOUTH

The Redwings will be led by their only two returning seniors: Nic Kolar and Owen Beumler. The rest of the squad is ninth and 10th graders, including promising Hayden Brickley (freshman). “We’re a very young team this year,” coach Sim Safford said. “We look forward to having a better year in conference.”