Hillcrest High boys golf coach Dave Richardson is optimistic about his team’s season.

“We should make state this year as a team,” he said. “That would be really good.”

By late August, the team already had played two region tournaments, one at Oquirrh Hills hosted by Tooele High and a second one at Murray Parkway hosted by Murray High. 

“We were a couple strokes out of third place,” he said about the Murray tournament. Already, the team is “shooting better scores than we have in recent years. The last tournament, we had all our players in the 70s and 80s. They’re just scoring better.”

The team has six more tournaments, including one at River Oaks Golf Course which Hillcrest will host prior to the early October region tournament at Meadow Brook Golf Course in Taylorsville. State also will be at Meadow Brook on Oct. 16-17.

“Park City (High) is going to win the region; they’re just that much better than everybody. Everyone else is scrapping out second, third, fourth places,” said Richardson, who coaches alongside Jeff Meyer.

In 4A, the top 16 teams with the lowest averages advance to state. He believes region 10 will qualify multiple teams.

“This region is capable of getting at least four teams in state,” Richardson said. “I think seniors Alex Lopez and Max Schramm will qualify individually.”

Along with those two players, senior AJ Call round out the top three players for the eight-member varsity team. 

High school golf counts the top four scores so each week Richardson plans to have a qualifying round to see which other players will play varsity. He already has seen good scores from freshman Riley Morgan and his older brother, junior Miles Morgan, senior Aarav Gore and senior Dylan West, a senior hockey player who took up golf.

“I’ve always liked hockey players who play golf. There’s a lot of similarities with a slap shot and a golf swing,” he said. 

The Huskies also have eight JV players, who Richardson believes will help the team be successful next year. 

“We practice on Monday, have our qualifier on Tuesday and varsity plays Wednesday or Thursday usually so everyone plays at least twice per week,” he said, adding they started practicing in early August together. “If we have money (for green fees) at the end of the season, we’ll hold a fun team two-man scramble for bragging rights.”

Richardson also believes if Lopez and Schramm desire and continue their trajectory, they could have a future playing at the next level.

“They could easily get on to a major college. They get a good spurt going here. They got the game,” he said. “I’m excited for our season and our chances this year.” λ