Members of KO varsity Golf battled through a tough season with a 4-18 record, but they still hold their heads high.
They played their last match of the regular season on Wednesday, May 16, away against Hopkins School away. The New England Championships followed that game on Saturday, May 19. The boys closed out the season at their very own Kingswood Invitational Tournament on Wednesday, May 23.
Junior Garth Swanson said the season started slowly since they are a young team, but they all just trusted the process and they improved as the season progressed. Junior James Amenta also said the season hasn’t gone as well as they hoped.
Swanson and Amenta both praised freshman Henry Krieble for his incredible play throughout the season. “Henry Krieble is a consistently good player on the team that always comes in with low scores every match,” Swanson said.
Sophomore Troy Gostyla said that for him, there have been ups and downs. “I’ve had some good rounds and have once gone up to fourth on varsity, but I also played number two on JV,” he said. “I’ve redone my entire swing, so I’m okay with where I’m at.”
Sophomore Niko Rodriguez has been shooting well as of late, and Swanson shot a 70 when they played at Wyantenuck Country Club against Berkshire School and The Hotchkiss School.
Gostyla said that the team doesn’t really have an official rival team it just depends on who they play the most. “These teams would probably be Loomis and AOF,” he said. “They put together such good teams year after year, and they are the teams which I know I need to bring my A game against.”
Swanson said the team’s hopes for the season are to retain the Keyes Plate for the third season in a row and to place well in the Founders League Tournament and the KIT’s at the end of the year.
Gostyla said his personal hopes were to shoot well after adjusting his swing. “I have not achieved that goal, but I can see improvement going down the stretch,” he said. Swanson said the team’s goal was just to trust the process this year. “Since we have a young team we were just looking to improve as a team as the season progressed,” he said.
Amenta said the team looked forward to every match they compted in. “Wednesday, the 16, we [competed] for the Keyes Plate, which we have won over the past two years,” Amenta said.
Gostyla emphasized how young the team is and how much that played into each match and their season as a whole. “We do not have any seniors this year,” he said. “In a year or maybe in two years, we will all be shooting mid-30s.”
Troy said after one of the first matches at Farmington Woods, Mr. Dunbar offered them the advice to stay away from the high scores.
Gostyla said that at the match at Wyantenuck, key player Swanson shot really well as he usually does.
Gostyla shared one of his most significant moments of the season.“It was memorable because I holed out from 160 yards with a 7 iron,” Gostyla said. “It looked like it was straight on and when I walked down I didn’t see it on the green. After looking around the green, the people in my group said they’ll help look after the putted out. When they pulled out the flag, they noticed there was a ball in there. Surely enough, it was a Callaway 3 with a green circle around it.”
