Mitchell Christian boys' golf team fields full roster, takes sixth Tuesday

The Mitchell Christian boys’ golf team has a full squad for the first time in a few years.

The team’s most recent competition was Tuesday at the Parkston Invitational, its third meet of the year. The Eagles took sixth out of seven teams.

With four golfers competing for MCHS, Mike Rieck decided to step back in as head coach for the team after several years away.

“One of the things I talked about was simply that if we had a team we’d all enjoy it a lot more and I’d be interested in coming back,” Rieck said.

Last season, Mitchell Christian had two boys’ golfers competing with Adam Bleeker and Jackson Feiner. The two wanted to be able to compete as a team and Bleeker — who qualified for last year’s state tournament and took 12th place Tuesday — even made promises to get Adam Rasmussen and Wes Vander Pol to come out for the team.

“I told them I’d play basketball if they joined the golf team,” Bleeker said. “We’ll see if I hold up my end of the bargain.”

With the team competing together, Rieck said he can tell the golfers have enjoyed themselves more than in previous years.

“We try to make some games happen (in practice), because we’ve got four guys so you can do more of that,” he said. “It just makes it a more much enjoyable experience, and really when you look at golf that’s what it should be about.”

Rieck hopes the fun atmosphere at practice will help his team improve before the end of the season.

“Our team scores have been getting better,” he said. “It’s going to be really interesting to see how the team competition in our region shapes up.”

Rieck said the schedule for the golfers is the same as in previous years, despite not scoring as a team in the past. He added that the golfers have been able to do more throughout the week in preparation for the regional tournament, which is held on Sept. 24 in Mitchell.

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