This year’s golf team is full of talent, according to returning starter Trevor Spathelf, but that may have gone unnoticed after a ninth-place finish at the Mid-American Conference Championship

last year.

The team showed glimpses of just how good it could be when it won its own tournament, the John Piper Invitational. With the help of four talented freshmen, the team plans to improve this year and compete at a higher level.

“We have a really good team,” Spathelf said. “We just have one bad round and in a tournament you can’t do that and compete.”

Coach Garry Winger says the freshman will provide an immediate boost for the team and have an impact right away. This year he brought in four freshman from Ohio and Michigan, including Scott Blackburn, an Ohio Junior Worlds Champ, and Andrew Ladwig, a 2005 MHSAA Dream Team honoree. The freshmen all competed over the summer to prepare for the up coming season and should be ready to compete at the collegiate level.

The team will be looking for players to take on a leadership role after losing second team All-MAC and fourth-year starter Heath Ziglar.

“It’s going to be very challenging [to coach this team] – we’re young and losing a great leader in Heath, but there’s no reason we can’t compete,” Winger said.

Competing at the MAC Championship is what the team is looking forward to most. The winners of last year’s MAC Championship, Kent State, brought the trophy to the conference banquet and put it on display for the other teams. The trophy represents what this year’s team knows they can achieve if they play more consistently and eliminate bad rounds.

“When they brought the trophy it really lit a fire under us, it’s something we want to get to,”

Spathelf said.

Bowling Green has not felt that they have competed well in the MAC Championship in recent years. No current Falcons were present the last time the team finished in the upper half of the field.

“The team is very good and very talented, it’s just a matter of practicing hard and when everyone becomes the best individual they can be,” Winger said. “We’ll be a better team and be able to compete at every tournament.”