July 8, 2021 at 8:26 a.m.
Team review: RHS golf
Team review: RHS golf
There were some flashes of promise and some struggles as well. It all added up to a sixth-place finish in a surprisingly competitive Great Northern Conference, as well as a sixth-place finish in the WIAA regional tournament.
Late in the season, as eager as Hodag golf coach Adam Schmidt was to see his team turn the corner and produce some lower scores, he said he had to remind himself of the inexperience he had on varsity.
"Something I have to remember is we have a young team," he said, before listing off each of his starters' relative lack of experience. "When we look at that, we're kind of a young team, and with COVID we basically lost a year."
The Hodags had only two varsity players back from its 2019 campaign after losing 2020 tot the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are five things to know about this year's squad.
'Koldyn' opportunity
The lone true starter the Hodags had returning was Koldyn "Kole" Gechas, a junior who started in all seven conference events two years ago as a freshman.
Gechas quickly took on a leading role as Rhinelander's No. 1 player and excelling, holding a spot in the GNC's top five most of the season before settling for sixth in the final conference point standings and second-team all-conference honors.
He had a scoring average of 83.57 strokes in conference play, fifth-best among players who competed in all seven legs of the conference tournament.
"Sixth in the conference is still quite and accomplishment," Schmidt said. "He played good. As a junior, it's something for him to bring back and strive for next year. It's pretty exciting."
Conference
What ultimately cost Rhinelander, in both the team and individual standings, was an inability to get four or five of its golfers playing well on the same day. Only twice did Rhinelander have multiple players finish in the top 10 in a conference event. That occurred in the first two legs of the tournament and, not surprisingly, the Hodags posted their best finish in GNC play in the second leg, taking third at Inshalla Country Club.
The Hodags wound up sixth in three of the next four meets, however, and finished sixth in the conference standings, two points behind Medford.
Aside from Gechas, only two other Hodags scored points in conference play. Junior Garrett Kulhanek and sophomore Andrew Henrichs each tied for 10th in the first two conference matches and wound up tied for 17th overall in the conference standings, one point out of earning all-conference recognition.
Postseason
Though the Hodags were not able to advance out of regionals as a team, finishing 18 strokes behind Antigo for the fourth and final sectional qualifying spot, Rhinelander did have two players - Gechas and Henrichs - advance to sectionals individually for the first time in their careers.
Gechas tied for fourth at Wausau Country Club on June 1 with a round of 81 and Henrichs finished 14th with an 89 to earn two of the four individual qualifying spots up for grabs in the eight-team regional.
The two could not match those performances a week later on a sultry day at Greenwood Hills Country Club - Gechas shot 84 and Henrichs shot 93 to finish well out of contention for individual berths to the WIAA state tournament - but Schmidt said it was a valuable opportunity for both players.
"Just the experience was great. You look around, out of our (regional), only four kids got to chance to go and they were two of the four. That was pretty good," he said.
Statbook
Not surprisingly, Gechas was the Hodags' leader in numerous statistical categories. He posted Rhinelander's lowest score in 11 of the team's 14 matches this year, finishing with a scoring average of 84.86 strokes. He also led the team in fairways hit per round (8.58), greens in regulation (7.80) and putts per round (35.0).
Kulhanek was Rhinelander's lowest scorer in three of the team's first five matches, breaking 90 in all five of those starts, but he didn't shoot in the 80s the remainder of the season as he finished with a 91.08 scoring average.
Henrichs was the only other player beside Gechas to play 14 rounds this spring, finishing with an average of 95.64 strokes, junior Cal Laggis averaged 105.25 strokes per round and sophomore Carter Gaber averaged 106.54 strokes per round.
What's next
The good news for the Hodags is that everyone is due back from this year's varsity squad. With another summer on the course, and perhaps some time in the Hodag Dome golf simulators during the winter, the team may take another step forward in 2022.
"That's very good news," Schmidt said. "We've got a young team and we're bringing everybody back. They'll all have a lot more experience and, by the sounds of it, they'll all be playing a lot more ... We definitely have a lot of potential."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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