Senior-led Oskaloosa boys golf team looking to get to state

OSKALOOSA — It’s only been three years since the Oskaloosa boys golf team has qualified for state. But that group that was around on that team as freshmen are hungry to get back as they enter their final seasons with the Indians.

Osky lose five seniors from last year’s team including one varsity starter but they return a plethora of experienced golfers in seniors Johnathon Terpstra, Ryan Carriker, Carter Blanco, Garrett Roethler, Meer Patel and sophomore Linus Morrison.

Leading the way with those returnees is Terpstra, a three-time state qualifier that will be continuing his golfing career at Simpson this fall. Terpstra led the team last year with an 18-hole scoring average of 79.7 including a low-round of 71. He will be one of the top players in the Little Hawkeye Conference and will be eyeing a fourth straight trip to state. Last year he finished 32nd overall at the 3A tournament and will hope to to compete there with his teammates this spring.

Carriker (83.6), Blanco (85) and Morrison (88.9) all had averages under 90 a year ago and have the ability to go sub-80 on any given round. Patel (91.9) and Roethler (94.2) were not far off and will try to shoot more consistently in the 80s.

Also keep an eye on seniors Nolan Scott, Karter Flaherty and Nik Smith and juniors Maddux Ashman, Griffin Snitker and Merek Padgett as they are players who should put together strong rounds on JV and could slide into a varsity role as well.

“We have a lot of seniors with a lot of experience returning from a district-qualifying team,” Oskaloosa head coach Bret Foster said. “Our JV lost to one other team last year so some of those guys will contribute to varsity or keep the strong JV performances going. These guys all play a lot of golf and they love golf, so it's not hard to get them to put the time in needed to get better. Our weakness last year was we didn't get everybody to click at the same time. We just need to keep working on being better and having more consistent performances.”

The Indians made it to districts last year but fell short of qualifying as a team. In order to get to state this year they will need more consistent rounds at the right time from their group. They do have an experienced squad with a lot of good seniors that will go through a challenging schedule that should have them prepared to make their run when the postseason comes around.

“The team goal is to make it as a team to the state tournament and do very well there,” Foster said. “Our top players are all very capable of qualifying as individuals, but their goal is to all go together.”