For the second consecutive year the Trenton High School boys golf team has captured a district championship.
Trenton shot a team score of 349 at the Shirkey Golf Course in Richmond on Wednesday to claim the top spot in Class 2, District 4 over Macon (365), Richmond (369), Brookfield (382) and six other schools.
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“I was real happy with the team as a whole,” Coach Travis Mullenix said. “We had three guys that placed and our four and five guys were only two and three strokes out of the top 10. I thought we played some good golf and I was real happy with our consistency.”
On their way to their second-straight district title, the Bulldogs were led by junior Ryan Wade, who has saved his best golf for the late stages of the season. Wade paced Trenton for the second tournament in a row, shooting an 83 on the day to tie for fourth overall at the tournament.
“Obviously I am very impressed with Ryan’s play,” Mullenix said. “He’s been doing a real good job for us these past couple of weeks. He has really gotten more consistent and stepped up his game at the right time, which is something we expected him to do all season long.”
Wade was very consistent on a windy day in Richmond, shooting a 41 on the front nine and a 42 on the back.
One stroke behind Wade in sixth place overall was senior Jim Weaver. Weaver posted an 84 for the tournament, Trenton’s second lowest score. Senior Tyler Brinkley came around the course with an 87.
“Brinkley and Weaver have been our one and two golfers all year long,” Mullenix said. “They have played good, consistent golf for us. Tyler had kind of a rough back nine and I’m sure he wasn’t extremely pleased with that, but he did what he needed to do .”
The Bulldogs also got strong rounds out of their number four and five golfers. Junior D.J. Christenson came around with a 95 while junior Ethan Bunnell put up a 96. Christenson was just two strokes out of the top 10 and Bunnell was just three strokes away.
“Ethan turned in a great score on the back nine with a 43,” Mullenix said. “He had a couple bad holes on the front side, but he really played good golf. D.J. shot a very consistent 48-47 for a 95, so we were definitely pleased with those two scores being under 100.”
Brinkley, Trenton’s number one golfer, noted that the performance of Christenson and Bunnell put the team over the top.
“Our four and five players really stepped up and played really well,” Brinkley said. “Bunnell struggled kind of on the front nine. On the back nine he knew he had to do something in case D.J. didn’t perform. He came around and he and D.J. both shot good scores to help us win.”
For the Bulldogs, winning the district title was a goal they had set at the beginning of the season.
“That was the boys’ goal from the beginning,” Mullenix said. “We wanted to repeat as district champs and we thought we had a pretty good opportunity to do that. They stepped up their game and won their second-straight.”
The district title also maintains Trenton’s golfing tradition that has grown somewhat into a dynasty in the high school golfing world. Even more impressive is the fact that they were able to accomplish the feat with a first-year coach.
“With the kids that I inherited it has been fairly easy,” Mullenix said. “They are all good golfers and they all want to get better. I have really enjoyed it. Coming into a program that has had a lot of success in the past couple of years makes it a pretty easy job.”
The Bulldogs’ attention now turns to state, where they took fifth place a year ago. This year the meet will be held at the Deerfield Golf Course in Springfield, where Trenton will look to at least duplicate the success they found at state a year ago.
“We really haven’t sat down and talked about what we are capable of yet,” Mullenix said. “It’s an honor to get to go to state and we are happy with that. A top five finish would be great, but there will be some super teams down there. We will see what we can do.”
Brinkley also has top five aspirations for state as well, but knows the challenges that will come.
“If we all play well I think we can make the top four and get a plaque out of the deal,” Brinkley said. “The team that won it last year has pretty much everybody back. Dixon, the individual state champ is back, so there are some good schools down there. If we play well we may get a plaque, but it is going to be tough.”
The Trenton golfers will hit the links in Springfield on May 12 and 13. Tee time is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. both days.