The Vandegrift Vipers golf team is currently in the middle of their season and ranked first in the state for both boys and girls.

“I’m feeling really good, at this point it’s just a matter of preparation for district, regionals and state,” golf coach Matt Wernecke said.

“We’re pretty confident, hoping to take state again this year and to get two teams into states,” team member Skyler Young said.

Another member of the team, Daniel Martinez, said a lot of teams lost a lot of players when the seniors graduated, so a lot of the competition has fallen off.

“One way we got better was becoming pretty deep top to bottom, so if one person is sick or can’t play, another skilled player can step in,” Martinez said.

Young agreed, also noting that team had become much more consistent on their long game.

“There were quite a few people on the team, so gelling together as a cohesive unit and getting to know some new faces was a way we grew as a team,” Wernecke said.

However, in the midst of all this success, there is still room to grow. The team still has a lot of work to do to prepare for the upcoming district, regional and state tournaments.

“The biggest thing is probably short game and scoring. most of the team can strike the ball pretty well, and most have good short game too, but that’s the area you usually pick up a point or two, so working on getting those short putts and getting below par more often,” Wernecke said.

Martinez and Young concurred, saying finishing strong was their biggest challenge.

When asked about the best memory from the season so far, Martinez and Young both said winning the aggie cup on the 19th and 20th.

“That’s the best tournament besides state, because it has 6A teams and and it’s something coach has always wanted to in, so it was great to accomplish that,” Martinez said.