After plenty of time for rest and practice, the Illinois Valley Central golf team is hitting the links again.
Following two seasons in which there was only one senior member of the team, the Ghosts enter a season in which the team has three senior leaders in Alex Koch, Glenn Maxey and Austin Youngman.
“Alex and Glenn have been playing varsity golf since they were freshmen,” coach Jim Thornton said. “They bring a lot of experience to the team.”
Rounding out this year’s group of golfers are underclassmen Drake Rundall, Ryan Wargo, Spencer Youngman and Justin Brabant.
“Depth is our main strength,” Thornton said. “That depth is there on this team and that’s good for us. That’s something we didn’t have a year ago.”
Despite the lack of depth last season, the Ghosts were able to win Regional and make it to Sectional last season, as well as sending IVC graduate Jared Johnson to State.
“We had a good year last year by winning our conference, the Regional and a lot of tournaments throughout the year,” Thornton said. “Our ultimate goal is to get to the State tournament, which is something that we have never done as a team. It’s a realistic goal this year, too.”
The Ghosts were also able to win the North Central Illinois Conference last season, hosting the conference tournament at Arrowhead.
“This year the conference tournament is at Princeton,” Thornton said. “They’re going to have a really good team this year.”
To get past conference and to State this season, the Ghosts will need to rely on their strong veteran class and hope that the underclassmen adjust to varsity play.
“The thing we have to look for is consistency and too not have too many guys shoot too high,” Thornton said. “That’s how you’ll advance in the postseason.”
