(Photo provided by Jennifer Benson)

In Wyoming the golf season starts early and is a sprint to the finish with practice officially beginning in mid-August.  The final weekend is this Friday and Saturday for the Kemmerer High School squad as they travel to the Douglas Community Golf Course in Douglas, Wyoming for the 2A championship. The meet will be hosted by Niobrara County (Lusk) High School. 

The Rangers will be going up against Thermopolis, Sundance, Wright, Upton, Tongue River and the host Tigers for the team title. Individually, Trevan Benson, who finished as the state runner-up last year by a single stroke in his freshman campaign, will be among the favorites to win in his sophomore season. Tongue River’s Easton Lewis tied with Benson as a sophomore and is back as a junior. 

“I’m very excited to take our boys,” replied head coach Jennifer Benson. “I feel like we will be competitive and in the hunt for a state title. Our team has been really working hard on fine tuning their short game and studying the Douglas course for course management.”

Photo provided by Jennifer Benson

In addition to possibly having an individual boys champion, Kemmerer will also have Tazlyn Wagner back in action at the state tournament after she won the individual title in her freshman season by 17 strokes. Wagner had not been competing with the program until last week but is eligible to compete in Douglas for the chance at a repeat.

According to coach Benson, the KHS players had their own playoff this past week. “We will be bringing our ‘A’ game,” she added. 

For those fans wanting to follow the tournament live, the Wyoming High School Activities Association (WHSAA) utilizes the Iwanamaker app which is available for purchase for both Apple and Android devices. Competitors will play two 18-hole rounds with the lowest score winning the individual state title. For the team score, the top-five scores for each boys team and top three scores for each girls team will comprise their total. 

The Sundance girls and Thermopolis boys are the defending 2A team champions. The players will tee off beginning at 10 a.m. on Friday, September 19 and again at 9 a.m. on Saturday, September 20.