Glenwood City golf team is young but shows potential

by Missy Klatt
Sports Correspondent

GLENWOOD CITY — If there had been a golf season last year, many of those that would have played have graduated. As a result this year’s Glenwood City golf team boosts a very youthful set of golfers.

For new head coach David Popko, he’s taking it all in stride and, in fact, believes that the team’s youthfulness is an asset. Popko, who was the assistant coach for several years, takes over the lead spot from Tristan Kittilson. Assisting Popko this year will Rachael Nied.

With no seniors on the team this year and only one junior, Owen Swenby, Popko and the team will be relying on Swenby for leadership.

According to Popko, Swenby has agreed to help lead the team forward. “His involvement with developing the program as well as assisting at Glen Hills will be greatly appreciated as an asset to our team,” noted Popko.

Swenby earned a varsity letter as a freshman.

There are two sophomores on the team, Ian Radintz and Gabe Knops, and six freshmen, Sakari Beaman, Connor Berends, Jared Hagar, Damian Shervington, Lewis Swanepoel, and Ben Wittmer, who make up the rest of the team.

Popko stated that Radnitz and Knops are strong golfers who have both played a lot in the off time.

“They are eager to contribute to the team and look forward to drawing on their experience from other athletic endeavors to find success here as well,” said Popko of Radintz and Knops.

Five of the six freshmen are new to the sport. Ben Wittmer, the strongest prospect among the freshmen, is the only freshman with any golfing experience. Wittmer remarked that he had been playing since he was four years old. Popko says he has a strong swing and a positive attitude.

Of the five other freshmen, Popko notes that Connor Berends has shown significant promise so far and he looks to shine as he learns the sport.

Popko feels that their strength is that they have a very good team to restart the program.

He went on to say that his young team affords them the ability and opportunity to build a team that will play together for several years and watch each other grow. Of course this means that they will need time to develop.

“The only thing limiting their potential is their desire to improve themselves,” commented Popko.

The drawback to this young team is that there will be growing pains and they have the rules of the game and course etiquette to learn.

As for goals this season, Popko stated, “I want to see each player challenge themselves to improve based on their own ability levels. As long as we can see each player have a growth mindset, we will be in a great position to become a very strong team down the road.”

As for the competition this year, there will be five teams in the conference as Elk Mound and Colfax are co-oping this year.

With the year off due to COVID it is hard to say who the real competition will be but Popko noted that Spring Valley has had a strong program for years, Durand has a quality coaching team and Mondovi has a challenging course and determined athletes.

The Hilltopper golfers have ten regular season matches which started on April 22nd.

2021 Roster

Junior: Owen Swenby

Sophomores: Gabe Knops and Ian Radinz

Freshmen: Sakari Beaman, Connor Berends, Jared Hager, Damian Shervington, Lewis Swanepoel, and Ben Wittmer