Page 9 - Sanger Herald 4-25-19 E-edition

SangerSports
Mike Nemeth, editor
nemethfeatures@gmail.com
SANGER HERALD
* PAGE 1B *
THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2019
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Some highlights from the Sanger Metric Classic. At left is Elizabeth Funk of Clovis West setting a meet record with her pole vault of 13 feet 7 inches. Above is Danny DeLoera running the 800 meter. Far right is Annie Ramirez in the long jump. Below right is Daylah Gonzalez, Lynley Montano, Sienna Bianchi and Cu-Nisha Mitchell. The track team heads to Buchanan on Friday.
Golf team seeks to make history
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Birds cried out overhead as Seth Maxwell swung his club and hit the golf ball in a high arc over the fairway and toward the green of hole No. 4 at Sherwood Forest Golf Club.
“Good job Seth,” said Trevor Schmidt, his coach.
Then fellow Apache Jacob Calhoun, a freshman from Hallmark Charter, stepped into position and did the same after a test swing with his club. But this drive elicited a long “Whooooo” from Bullard High golf coach Randy Seib. Calhoun didn’t react. Like the rest on that April 4 afternoon, he treated the competition between the two schools as serious business.
Perennially strong Bullard faced a serious challenge from underdog Sanger.
The Apaches are good this year.
Coach Trevor Schmidt explained the rivalry this way. “In the van going to a Bullard match it’s usually gloomy,” he said.
Not this year. This season, their talent on the course has given them hope. In fact, Schmidt said one of the team, perhaps junior Alejandro Mendibles, said prior to the match, “Let’s shock the world.”
Granted, that world is small. Golf is also a quiet game. Those who know its secrets often talk very little or simply whisper during competition.
And Bullard maintained its standard for playing excellent golf. The two top players competing against Calhoun and Maxwell also fired off brilliant shots at the fourth hole, driving them so high, it appeared they would land in a dense thicket of trees just beyond the green.
But they didn’t. Their shots put them in good position.
“Hole four is an optical illusion,” Schmidt said.
Course designers don’t
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Dom Daddino hits the ball onto the green, making a tough shot look easy, at Sherwood Forest Golf Club. The Apaches faced off that day against Bullard High, which typically fields one of the more accomplished teams in the central San Joaquin Valley. Right, the team after the match.
make the game easy.
And that offers some
of the sport’s allure. John Pena, a sophomore who played varsity football and basketball this season, said he enjoys it. “It’s easier on my body, and it’s really mentally challenging,” he said. “You could hit four bad shots in a row. Then you can hit 10 good shots.”
Pena said the way to maintain the balance in favor of the good shots requires three elements. “Staying focused, staying strong and staying with the plan,” he said.
Bullard ended up winning. But not by the margins the team has
become accustomed.
“We put up a good fight,”
Schmidt said.
Maxwell won his match.
Dominic Daddino, a senior, came close.
“We’re going to dismantle
them the next time,” Daddino said. And of his match, he added, “I lost him on the eighth hole. I was tied going into the seventh.”
And on the quality of this year’s team, Daddino said,
“Yeah. I like this team. My favorite since freshman year.”
Mandibles agreed. “Very special team. Great teamwork. We like each other. We hope so we keep
practicing.”
Calhoun said his goal
this year is to compete in the Valley championships. He said he lost but not by much, and that his confidence “is pretty high.” He agreed in principal with Mendibles’ “shock the world” prediction, calling it pretty accurate.
Just how well this group of Apaches gets along may be best illustrated by a rivalry that Schmidt said developed between Maxwell and Pena. “They try to hit it over the net,” he said, referring to the driving range. “One will hit and talk trash to the other. “
When asked about the good-natured rivalry, Maxwell smiled. “We have a driving competition,” he said. “I won the last couple of times.”
The contest with Bullard that day was supposed to be held at Riverside Golf Course in Fresno. But Schmidt and Seib opted to switch to the less crowded and more sedate Sherwood off Frankwood Avenue east of Sanger.
The coaches figured they had alerted everyone.
Except one dad, Maxwell’s. He opted for Riverside, even though his son had told him otherwise, thinking perhaps Seth didn’t want the pressure of a parent’s expectations.
Not the case, Seth said. “You never know if you’re going to have a good day,” he said. “You can do good (at the start), but in the middle of a round do bad. But, yeah, I love the sport.”
Somewhat like Xander Perez did on one of the seventh hole that afternoon. He made an excessively hard putt. “I came back,” he said. “I was three down.”
The team also includes Cody Williams and Maarten Kool.
The reporter can be contacted by email at nemethfeatures@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.