For the first time in fifteen years, Vermillion is celebrating a boys state golf championship this week. On Monday and Tuesday, the Tanagers were one of twelve schools who competed in the teams portion of the ‘A’ boys state golf tournament.
“It’s a great feeling. Anytime you can be a champion in anything is a great feeling. The challenge for us this year has been the competition this year has been very intense. Especially in our corner of the state, between our invites, we’ve traveled to, and then the conference and everything. Almost every one of them down to I think one, two, three, four - I think one there was eight strokes with different teams getting in there” explained Vermillion head boys golf coach Kirk Hogan. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and I can’t say I’ve seen the competition this deep.”
At the end of the first round, Vermillion had a solid showing in the top-25, including the top-10. Coach Hogan said this helped keep the kids motivated going into the second round on Tuesday.
“It wasn’t hard to keep them focused, because four of the kids were in the top four groups, so they’re looking at places too, and we had two them tied for first, so I didn’t have to do too much talking,” Hogan chuckled. “My biggest thing was trying to stay out of their way.”
At the end of the day on Tuesday, the Tanagers had four golfers finish in the top-25 and one coming in at the No. 26 spot.
Trey Hansen placed fourth with +5, Cooper Girard tied for ninth at +9, and Carter Hansen tied at the number twelve spot with +11. Karson Preister tied for twenty-fourth with +17, and then Kade Reuvers was next on the scorecard at twenty-sixth with +18.
“Hats off to the kids. We knew coming into it that it was going to be tough.They worked really hard for this. This isn’t something that just started August 8th,” explained Hogan. “They’re good kids, good students, and great families. A lot of the competitiveness comes from their upbringing. It’s been a fun year, and that’s why you do it. I’m pretty proud of them.”
This is Vermillion’s first state boys golf championship as a team since 2007, and their third in program history. Last season, they finished the state tournament in third place behind Tea Area and West Central.