County front-runner yet to emerge

When thunderstorms postponed the boys’ golf tilt between Mt. Vernon and New Palestine on Monday afternoon, both MV coach Caleb Zelencik and NP coach Gregg Greene were stripped of a valuable opportunity to examine how their squads would stack up and respond to one another.

Last season, the Marauders took home the Hancock County crown and finished ahead of Greenfield-Central and New Pal at the Hoosier Heritage Conference and sectional meets, though MV failed to move on to regional. Since no county team advanced to regional in 2011, New Pal’s Nick Roembke is the lone returning regional qualifier. Mt. Vernon’s Grant Givan dominated the county scene last year, and advanced to the regional with Roembke before graduating.

Thus, with the HHC tilt a little over a week away on May 12 (at Rushville) and the Hancock County and sectional contests inching closer, there’s no time like the present to pick the brains of the county coaches.

What did we learn? Each of the four teams hasn’t quite found its respective groove yet. However, the coaches maintain the best is yet to come from their golfers. Additionally, Pendleton Heights is primed to reign supreme once again at the HHC Championships while Center Grove is in line for yet another sectional title, which will be played at Hawk’s Tail on June 4, G-C’s home course. Oh, and the county meet on May 29 is apparently completely up for grabs, which should make for an exciting day at Arrowhead Golf Course (MV’s home links) later this month.

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