On March 31, the Warriors golf team headed down to Lincoln to compete in the Pius X Golf Invitational at Firethorn Country Club. After a second-place tie in Benson last week, Westside brought home their first first-place finish for the season. The team brought 3 seniors: Trevor Gutschewski, Chris Whittle, and Leo Kroeger, and 2 sophomores: Tye Treadwell and Knox Pocras. Their combined team score of 291 bumps them down 3 strokes overall when compared to their performance last Thursday in Benson. Head Coach Jered Hellman spoke on what was done in between matches to result in this finish.
“We focused on our wedge game,” Hellman said. “With a particular emphasis on distance control from 100 yards and in. Our boys hit the ball long off the tee, and high school tournaments are usually set up shorter, which leads to many wedge shots into the greens. Firethorn requires precision with wedges, and we showed improvement in that area yesterday.”
Firethorn is a fairly challenging course. Its ins and outs caused some troubles for the Warriors at times. Through teamwork and consistency, they were able to make up some of the deficit that came from some of the trickier holes.
“Trevor got off to a slow start on the front nine,” Hellman said. “He lost a ball in the water on 3 and had another lost ball on 5, leaving him 6 over par at the turn. I had an idea that his front nine score would be higher, so I communicated that to Knox, Christopher, and Tye. They knew they needed to step up and pick up their teammate, and that’s exactly what they did. Christopher, Tye, and Knox played the front nine a combined 2 under par. Trevor got it together on the back nine and finished strong with a 33 (-2).”
This time around, it was sophomore Tye Treadwell with a 70 and the lowest overall team score. Treadwell also placed first in overall scoring. Whittle, Gutschewski, and Kroeger shot 71, 75, and 85, respectively. Sophomore Knox Pocras tied Gutschewski with another 75. This marks Treadwell’s first win as a sophomore.
“It felt good to see improvement from Benson last week,” Treadwell said. “We all played a lot better as a team. I always try to ignore what happened in my last match and focus on what’s ahead of me. This time around it allowed me to drop 6 strokes compared to the last event I played in. I would really like to build off this success down the road.”
Improvement aside, something is bound to be faulty in some way or another. Golf is a sport with many moving parts and therefore there is always room for error. Nonetheless, Coach Hellman believes that there is a silver lining that must be found in all things, including golf.
“Golf isn’t about focusing on what went wrong,” Hellman said. “There will always be strokes left on the course, missed putts, and mistakes off the tee. Many might say that because we didn’t win the event last week, we ‘failed,’ but that couldn’t be further from the truth. We improved our 2024 score by 14 strokes and played some excellent golf. Lincoln Southeast was simply better that day, and we tipped our hats to them and got back to work.”
As the season heats up, the team will continue to see the fruits of their labor from the off-season. Improvement can be spotted all over the board for the Warriors. Coach Hellman believes his team’s depth and skill is one of the strong suits. Moreover, something that will allow them to make a deep run at state in May.
“We are a very strong team, and it showed,” Hellman said. “Even though Trevor didn’t have his best day, Christopher Whittle was phenomenal and shot even par. Tye Treadwell played incredibly well, winning his first event as a sophomore! Knox played excellent golf and helped secure the team title. Every stroke counts, and no one player is more important than the others — we proved that with our team effort.”
