By Andy Warrener
The Laker/Lutz News Correspondent
The Wharton boys golf team is just two years removed from winning a district and regional championship and finishing 15th at the Class 2A state tournament.
Sixth-year Wildcats boys coach Martha Scholl, who has coached golf at the school for a decade, said the team has rebounded from missing the postseason last year after taking fourth at the Class 2A-District 10 meet, 14 strokes away from returning to regionals.
Scholl said she had 17 kids try out for the squad to compete for just nine spots.
“Boys, in general, are very competitive,” Scholl said. “I like to let them use that. They are very committed. They challenge themselves.”
Scholl is hoping that competition can help them regain their playoff form. She also has a highly motivated No. 1 golfer in Jorge Junquera.
The junior qualified for regionals individually last season, but had to withdraw from the tournament because of an illness.
“I really want to come back this year and do better,” Junquera said.
Junquera is averaging 36 early this season, a stroke better than what he did last year.
The No. 2 slot is still up for very tight competition, according to Scholl, with junior team captain Sean Kim and junior Justin Koepke battling for the spot. Junior Alex Montgomery usually hits as the No. 4.
Scholl is very confident in the quality and the depth of this year’s squad, calling her Wildcats “a better team” than they were in 2011. She does see a big challenge in the defending 2A-10 champion Newsome, which finished third at states last year and returns four of its top-five golfers.
Scholl also sees tough competition just south on Bruce B. Down Boulevard in the form of Freedom.
The Wharton girls are led by first-year coach Denis Vukorep, who also leads the Wildcats girls soccer program. He said team captain and four-year varsity player Shannon Clark is his top player.
“She is a serious player with aspirations about playing in college,” Vukorep said.
Vukorep said Clark has a good shot at getting through districts this year and possibly beyond.
The other team captain is senior Darby Frankfurth, who is also a four-year varsity player.
The girls 2A-10 tournament is at Walden Lake Country Club in Plant City on Oct. 15, the same day the boys are at Summerfield Golf Course in Riverview. The tournaments start at 8 a.m.
—Results as recorded by the Florida High School Athletic Association
