Van Meter girls golf stays strong, girls track qualifies multiple events for Drake Relays

The Van Meter girls golf team has gotten out to a solid start to its season, winning two of its last four meets.

The Bulldogs bounced back after losing their season-opening meet, placing in the top two in their last four meets. Head coach Skylar Wolf said the first meet was a little rocky, with Van Meter missing three of its top four scorers, leading to some of its struggles.

“Ever since then we’ve kinda been getting back in the swing of things, just kinda building some confidence as the year goes on,” Wolf said. “We’re really trying to work mostly on short game right now, we feel like that’s the best position to shave strokes off of our total score.”

He added that the work is showing, as the Bulldogs are where they want to be at the end of April, and having junior Emma Bruins back in the lineup has helped with that, along with junior Regan Bernhardt, who has kept the team steady.

As the season has progressed, Wolf said he has noticed the team’s confidence grow, particularly in freshman Josie Bemis, who is understanding what high school golf is all about.

“She’s done a fantastic job so far this year,” Wolf said. “The first meet you could tell she was a little nervous… but after that, when she started to realize that she can kind of compete with some of the top golfers in some of these meets, then she started to kind of build this confidence of ‘I can be the best here.’”

He added that she has done a great job of believing in herself and she has all the support from the team to be successful, and she even won Van Meter’s meet on April 20 with a score of 44.

Though Bemis brings a freshman presence to the roster, the Bulldogs also have a number of upperclassmen in juniors Bruins, Bernhardt and Dani Jones.

All three return from last season’s squad, and Wolf said they have been helpful in Van Meter’s strong start due to knowing what it takes to compete and knowing what to expect.

“The three of them are very high competitors and they want to do well not just for themselves but also in the team aspect as well,” Wolf said. “They’re very helpful to other teammates and they kind of know their role and what it takes for them to shoot as a team a low score.”

Just as the juniors have expectations for themselves, Wolf said they have high expectations for the team as well.

Wolf and the girls agreed on a realistic expectation of making it back to the state tournament, which he said is achievable as long as the girls do what they are capable of doing and continue to put forth the team effort to win that they have been doing.

The Bulldogs will next compete at the WCAC Quad meet at 4 p.m. April 25 at Woodward Golf Club.

Track and field competes at Gilbert

The Van Meter track and field teams competed at the Gilbert meet on April 24, finishing with a number of solid finishes.

The girls placed fifth overall with a score of 71 while the boys finished seventh with a score of 24.5.

Leading the girls was sophomores Emma McCoy and Madison Boese. McCoy placed second in the 1,500-meter run while Boese grabbed second in the 100-meter hurdles.

Senior Molly Birks also did well, placing third in the high jump, while the Bulldogs had a few relay teams place in the top three as well. Van Meter’s distance medley relay grabbed first, its shuttle hurdle team finished second, and the 4x200 and sprint medley relay both placed third.

For the boys, senior Aydn Netten was the top finisher, grabbing second in the 400-meter hurdles. He also placed sixth in the 110-meter hurdles.

Also scoring well for the Bulldogs was sophomore Cason Peterson, who picked up third in the 400-meter dash, while freshman Drew Rhodes picked up fifth in the high jump.

Van Meter’s shuttle hurdle relay was its top relay finisher for the boys, placing fourth, while the 4x200 also finished in the top five at fifth place.

The Bulldogs also qualified a number of girls for the Drake Relays. Junior Eden Moore qualified in both the 100-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles while senior Clare Kelly qualified individually as well in the 800 and 1,500-meter run.

Van Meter will also be represented in the 4x100, 4x400, 4x800 and sprint medley relays.

The Drake Relays will begin April 27 at Drake University Stadium, but the Bulldogs will compete before that. The girls will next run at the Madrid Invitational at 4:30 p.m. April 25 at Madrid High School while the boys will compete in the Wildcat Relays at 4:30 p.m. April 25 at Carlisle High School.

This article originally appeared on Dallas County News: Van Meter girls golf stays strong, girls track qualifies multiple events for Drake