Published: August 19, 2008 09:56 am      

Clinton linksters set for season

River Kings look for returnees to lead team

CLINTON — After a rough season last year for the Clinton High School boys golf team is hoping for a smoother run this fall.

The optimism certainly is there. Almost everyone is back from last year’s squad that finished an uncustomary 10th place in the Mississippi Athletic Conference.

“We graduated only one kid, so we have pretty much everybody back,” coach Paul Niedermeyer said this week as the River Kings opened practiced in preparation for Friday’s opener at the Muscatine Invitational.

While there’s not a Tyler Swanson-type player at the top of the lineup, there is a great deal of balance among the top players.

“I think our strength will be our No. 1 through No. 8 depth,” Niedermeyer said. “We have some real competition for the top six spots.”

Senior Brennen Roling has been Clinton’s top golfer so far, according to Niedermeyer, shooting a 34 and a 36 at the first two days of tryouts at Valley Oaks Golf Course. Roling and fellow senior Greg Heysinger were Clinton’s leaders in the MAC last year, with each shooting a 177 at the two-part conference meet.

They are joined by two other seniors, Elliott Deering and Alex Feaster.

“All four (seniors) have some varsity experience,” Niedermeyer said. “Deering was on our (state) tournament team two years ago. He also has some good competition experience from tennis (he was on the fifth-place doubles team at last spring’s state meet).”

Six juniors also will battle for playing time on the varsity. Cameron Harrop, who shot a 178 in conference action last year, leads that group and is joined by Matt Gray, Logan Hood, Alex Baker, Tony Balk and Gordon Johnston. Gray and Hood each played one round in last year’s MAC meet.

Sophomores Tristen Kao, Jeremy Miller, Phillip Newton, Kyle Norman and Nolan Rolston, and freshmen Steven Davis, Connor Hood, Connor Kenney and Christian Rowan round out the squad.

“We have some good young players, and hopefully some of them come to the front sooner or later,” Niedermeyer said. “We have a pretty strong freshman class, but it’s hard to know more than that (about them) right now. Rowan did qualify in the fourth or fifth spot (at tryouts in the opening week).”

The combination of a stronger Clinton team and a weaker MAC could vault the River Kings up the conference standings.

“The league is always pretty good,” Niedermeyer said, “but I think it might be down a bit. It’s a good year for us to be improved.”

Several of the top teams in the conference suffered huge graduation losses.

Defending conference champion Bettendorf, which saw its string of four consecutive Class 4A state titles end last year, lost five of its top six players, including MAC medalist Mike Wuertz and third-place finisher Jon Haedt. Conference runner-up Davenport Central’s losses included runner-up MAC medalist

Connor Gillund. Wuertz placed fifth in the state meet last fall — his third consecutive year with a top-five finish — while Gillund tied for sixth and Haedt tied for 11th.

North Scott, which finished fifth in the MAC last year, also suffered huge graduation losses, according to Niedermeyer.

Matt Solis, the only returning starter back from Bettendorf’s state meet lineup, also is the top returning individual in the MAC. He placed fourth in the MAC meet last fall.

Regardless of what the rest of the MAC teams do, though, Niedermeyer is confident the River Kings will do better this fall.

“We’ve already improved from anything we had done last year,” he said. “We’ve shown we worked hard from a year ago. All of them have worked hard. They’re excited about it (this season), and I’m excited about it.”