The Warriors are continuing their hot streak as they head into the state championship. After cleaning up in the metro tournament, Westside looks to bring their high level of play with them to Norfolk as they play in the state championship. They found themselves on top of the leaderboard once again with a total team score of 281. Behind them, was Elkhorn South with a team total of 315 and in third place was Gretna with a total of 321. Junior Chris Whittle shot a 72 while freshman Tye Treadwell had a 75. Overall, they came in fourth and sixth place respectively.
There is much at stake next week in the state championship. If the Warriors are able to pull off a win, they will undoubtedly go into the conversation as one of the best teams in the history of Nebraska golf. After two metro championships in a row and winning 9 of their last 10 events, it seems there is not much left to prove.
“This team has won 9 out of 10 full-field events, destroyed the Metro record, and, if they take care of business at State, will go down as one of the best golf teams in State History. The bullseye is directly on our back and we relish the opportunity to defend our title.”
Westside had both the first and second place finishers in junior Trevor Gutschewski and senior Jackson Benge. Both Benge and Gutschewski finished under par and assisted in bringing a win home for the team. Trevor finished with a 64 and Jackson came in at 2 under par, with a 70. Two D1 commits, Benge will play as a cornhusker while Gutschewski will be headed to Gainesville, Fla. for his freshman year.
Head coach Jered Hellman reflected positively on his team’s performance coming off the win in Fremont.
“Winning a District title is a huge accomplishment,” Hellman said. “It was our goal at the beginning of our season, so to accomplish that and shoot 3 under as a team is really impressive.”
Last week the Warriors played in the metro tournament at Benson golf course. There Trevor set the all time metro record, shot one under the course record, and the team tied the all time Nebraska scoring record. On top of that, the team broke the all time Westside scoring record for the third time in the last two seasons. Trevor has been on his A game as of late. After his scores at Benson, he followed it up with a 66 in the Norfolk Classic just days later.
“It’s been good,” Gutschewski said. “I can’t really complain when my teammates and I are playing at this level. Considering how close we are to state. I think we’re all at a good place in our play.”
Fremont is no walk in the park. It is a demanding course and to shoot in the mid 60’s, takes a high level of skill. Hellman believes that his team was able to take this and run with it, improving their play in the second half of the round.
“Fremont Golf Club is a difficult golf course,” Hellman said. “One that requires every shot in your bag and requires you to think your way around the course. We had some rough stretches, but the boys battled and made lots of birdies on the back nine. We trusted the process and when we were struggling, we kept our composure and finished strong.”
Gutschewski agrees with his coach. He believes that playing harder courses will get the team, along with himself, ready for playing under pressure and participating in high stakes events.
“Playing courses like this is definitely something you just need to do,” Gutschewski said “Not everybody likes it all the time and sometimes it really sucks. But if all we did was play par 3 courses all the time, we wouldn’t get better. I think we were definitely able to persevere through this one and come out on the other side.”
Freshman Knox Pocras is one of the youngest on the team and had a 79 in the district tournament. He has had nothing short of a successful season after playing the one spot in the Creighton Prep Invitational. Knox provides a bit of a different perspective revolving around moving on to state considering he is just a freshman.
“It’s a huge deal for me,” Pocras said. “Last year I followed the team and kept track of scores throughout the season. That being said I understood the level of talent that would be returning to the team this year. I’m very proud of how far we have come as a team. Making it to the state championship as a freshman means the world to me, as does the team and the bond we have.”
With this win the boys have punched their ticket to state. Next Tuesday and Wednesday, the Warriors will be headed back to Norfolk to compete alongside Elkhorn South and Gretna. With the wins from the past couple of weeks under their belts, Hellman thinks that the team can proceed with confidence.
“We will head to the State tournament with confidence,” Hellman said “We are playing our best golf of the year and look to continue that play in the biggest state next week.”
The Warriors will go to Norfolk May 21 and 22 to compete for back to back state championships.
