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.

The players on the team shared Wernecke’s confidence, looking forward to success in their upcoming tournaments.

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

The team has worked on increasing their depth and getting to know one another better as the season has progressed.

“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, noting that team has become much more consistent on their long game. He also mentioned that there are many new, younger players that had integrated in to the team well.

“There were quite a few new 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,”  Wernecke said. “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,”

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

In regards to their best memories from the season so far, Martinez and Young both said winning the Aggie Cup on Jan. 19-20.

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