By Tim Wester
Sports Correspondent
The 2014 Union Grove girls golf season will be remembered as one of the best in program history.
So what can the Broncos do for an encore this season?
Encore performances won’t come easy for Union Grove, who graduated four-year starters Jorey Staven, Tara Manteufel, and Emily Garbie. The talented trio helped lead the team to a Southern Lakes Conference and WIAA Regional Championship, and a fifth place finish at sectionals.
Those losses coupled with a full complement of accomplishments to try to match from last season leaves veteran coach Eric Swanson with plenty of work to do.
“Last year was the best year in school history and we graduated three key players that were all 4-year varsity golfers,” said Swanson, who is entering his 19th season as coach. “That’s a big loss for any team to take.”
Fortunately for Swanson, he has one of the premier high school golfers in the state to pick up the slack this season.
Senior Mari Suokko looks to build upon an impressive junior season that included winning Southern Lakes Conference player of the year for a third straight season, and qualifying for the state tournament for the first time.
Suokko, who has already earned a scholarship to play golf at Ferris State University (MI), will undoubtedly want to take another crack at the challenging University Ridge golf course, which is the site for the WIAA State Championship.
“Mari qualified for state last year and has been conference Player of the Year every year of high school,” Swanson said. “She has turned herself into one of the better players in the state.”
Swanson would also like to see returning varsity junior Sarah Schuster take the next step in her golf career. Schuster finished her sophomore campaign as a second-team all-conference performer.
“Sarah has worked hard on her game in the off season and I am hoping that she takes the next step into being one of the better players in the area,” Swanson said. “She has the skills to do that.”
While Suokko and Schuster are two vital lynchpins on the varsity roster, the remaining starting spots are still up for grabs.
Two promising candidates are sophomores Megan Koch and Jackie Bianchi, who both had strong seasons on the junior varsity team last season. The rest of the candidates have yet to separate from the pack, and are inexperienced.
“I am very excited to see what our young players can do,” Swanson said. “The fifth spot is really up for grabs, so hopefully all the girls continue to improve during the course of the season. “
Once the starting spots are settled, the Broncos will look to defend their Southern Lakes Conference title and make another deep run in the playoffs.
Although it may seem like a tall order to repeat last season’s success at this point in the season, Swanson likes the potential of his young golfers.
If our girls continue to improve, I think we could be pretty tough by time the Southern Lakes Conference tournament rolls around,” Swanson said. “We should be better as the season rolls along.”
With a little patience, the Broncos could indeed be a fun team to watch down the stretch of the season.
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