FSHS golf team optimistic despite rough home opener
Aug. 17—FAIRMONT — Although their season began Aug. 5, the Fairmont Senior Polar Bears finally got to play on their home field Monday, where they invited Morgantown, Bridgeport, and Parkersburg to a match at Fairmont Field Club.
The outing kicked off shortly before 4 p.m. and concluded almost three hours later, as the golfers played through early rain and subsequent wet greens all day.
Fairmont Senior did not see much of a homefield advantage Monday, placing last out of the four schools. On the par-35 course, Fairmont Senior's best four scores came out to an even 190; Logan Huffman shot 42, Landen Barkley shot 48, Caden Musgrove shot 48 and Landon Rowan shot 52.
Bridgeport finished first on the day with a total of 175, though it was Parkersburg who claimed the medalist, with Molly Mclean scoring a 40.
Bridgeport was led by Mitchell Duez, who shot 41. Morgantown's Conner Decker secured the top score among his teammates with 42, and Mclean was the frontrunner for Parkersburg.
The final results were Bridgeport scored 175, Parkersburg scored 181 edging Morgantown by one with 182 and Fairmont Senior scored 190.
After the match, Fairmont Senior golf coach Luke Corley said his team "didn't bring our best game," in their first match back at the Field Club.
"To me that's unacceptable," Corley said of the Polar Bears' day. "So we've got to go back to the drawing board and see if we can improve those scores."
In spite of the tough outing, Corley maintained high expectations for his crew, who are fairly young as a team, with Logan Huffman being the lone junior, and the rest of the Polar Bear golfers being sophomores.
"The potential for us — at the beginning of the year our goal was to try and make the state tournament, get some good experience," Corley said. "If we can get there, that would be a great accomplishment for us this year. Obviously we'd like to win the state championship but we've got a ways to go before we get there. The goal this year is to just improve throughout the season and try and make the state tournament."
Fairmont Senior will have no time to lament their fourth-place finish as they will take to the Apple Valley Golf Course on Tuesday to play against the East Fairmont Bees. The match was originally set for Aug. 12, but was rescheduled for Aug. 17 after a heat advisory put a halt to the contest before it began.
Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.
