Seeley-Swan High School Junior Tegan Mauldin was the only golfer her freshman year to make it to State. She made it to state and is qualified to return again after shooting a 119 at the meet in Hamilton.
Seeley-Swan sophomore Ben Haley came in second for the Blackhawks shooting a 117 in Hamilton.
This is senior Bethany Hoag's first year out for Seeley-Swan's golf team. In Hamilton, she proved she would be a golfer to contend with, tying for fourth with teammate Tegan Mauldin and qualifying for state after shooting a 119.
HAMILTON, MONTANA – At their first meet of the season March 25, the Seeley-Swan High School Blackhawks took to the Hamilton Golf Course in force. The Lady Blackhawks were the only school at the meet to have five players for a team. They won the meet with Tegan Mauldin and Bethany Hoag leading the Ladies. The Blackhawks placed second behind Clark Fork with Casey Carver leading the Blackhawks finishing in 13th place.
This year the golf team has 13 players, eight boys and five girls. SSHS Principal Kellen Palmer stepped in as the head coach this year.
"I applied because of the difficulties of trying to have to fill Wayne's [Cahoon] shoes," Palmer wrote in an email. "No one could do that. But, I felt like with my relationships I had already built with the students it would ease that transition and [give our athletes the best opportunity and experience this spring]."
Palmer started playing golf in grade school. He qualified for state all four years in high school.
"I have always had a strong passion for golfing and love working with students in extracurricular activities and watching them learn something new," Palmer wrote.
Palmer plans to continue the program Cahoon built and looks forward to carrying on Cahoon's success. Cahoon coached the boys when they won the 2015 and 2017 Class C State Championships and took second at state in 2016. While there was only one golfer on the team in 2018, more golfers came out in 2019 but only one made it to state. The team continued to grow and five girls and eight boys were on the team at the start of the season in 2020. However due to COVID, all meets were canceled and Cahoon didn't have the opportunity to coach another team at state.
Palmer looks forward to sharing his passion for golf with the students while working with them outside of the classroom.
"I possess the ability to get students to see the best in themselves and to perform their best. I also bring the passion of someone who believes that sports teach students so many more things than just wins and losses," Palmer wrote. "[Golf] is a lifelong sport and I wanted to help them find their passion for [it]."
Of the 13 players, there are only two experienced golfers on both the boys and girls teams. Since the Double Arrow Golf Course is still covered in snow, they have been practicing in the small gym at SSHS hitting, chipping and putting. They also have been using the golf simulator that Cahoon bought.
"This gives us the opportunity to hit and get a feel for our golf swing without being on the course," Palmer wrote.
Palmer added that Double Arrow Golf Pro Nathan Miller has been a big help to the team working with the golfers on swing mechanics and best practices with their swings. This has been especially helpful since there are so many students out for the team this year.
Palmer said the golfers' individual goals for the season are to become more consistent and improve their scores. His goal is to bring both a boys and girls team of three to five players each to State. To qualify for State, boys must shoot a 100 or better and girls must shoot below a 120.
"We are really focusing on what we can control," Palmer wrote. "Golf is a lot less of a reactionary sport and having the capability to stay in the present is so important. You cannot focus too much on your previous shot."
For the majority of the team, the Hamilton meet was their first on-course experience. The Hamilton Golf Course is an 18-hole course for a par of 72.
On the girls team, Mauldin and Hoag tied for fourth both shooting a 119. This qualified them for state. Ava Thornsberry and Cora Stone each shot a 143 tying for 11th place. Trista Wendel rounded out the girls team shooting a 149 and placing 15th. They were the only team of six schools to post a team score. They won the meet with 381.
The Boys Team placed second for Class C with their combined score of 379 behind Clark Fork, 294. Carver shot a 108 for 13th place followed by Ben Haley. Haley shot a 117 which tied him for 17th with Anaconda's Brady Mikalatos. Kase Anderson was next for the Blackhawks taking 33rd with his score of 144. In 34th was Seth Richardson who shot a 146. Placing 36th was Cullen Bertsch with 151. Connor Matthew shot a 162 for 39th.
With the exception of wearing masks when players are not playing their round, COVID has not made too many changes to the season. As of March 29, the public is allowed to attend all meets, even in Missoula County.
"Masks and social distancing still need to occur," Palmer wrote, "With that said, come clap for your golfers."
Palmer is thankful for the opportunity to work with this group. He said they are working hard and focuses on not only learning the rules of the game but also how to improve.
"We are making a lot of strides given our circumstances and are looking forward to getting on our course and really peaking at the end of the season," Palmer wrote. "If we keep improving the way we are, I think our goals of getting a full boys and girls team to state could be a real possibility."
The next meet is April 9 and April 10 in Eureka, Montana.
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