Photo by Kim Meyer Bancroft Register/Swea City Herald Press: North Union Boys Golf Team: Caden Zotz, Max Merrill, Drew Henderson, Hudson Tirevold, Jayden Hagedorn, Broc Bollig, Henry Moore and Draven Keeler. Not pictured: Emmitt Bierstedt, Cole Nicoson, Thomas Price and Max Heinen.

ARMSTRONG – North Union boys’ golf head coach Chris Hansen is set to continue building his program the right way this spring season. The Warriors bring back five varsity players from the year prior, including a handful of new faces Hansen thinks will only add to his roster.

The Warriors saw improvements in all facets of their game last season. Hansen’s team won four matches and placed fourth in the 1A IHSAA Golf Sectional out of seven teams competing. Drew Henderson marked a first-place finish in this meet with an impressive score of 68. He beat the rest of the individuals by four strokes.

“Our individual scoring averages dropped significantly from athlete to athlete from the previous season,” Hansen said of last season.

Despite losing two seniors in Carter Martens and Caden Walders, individuals who Hansen said were excellent leaders for the team, the Warriors have nearly everyone back this year. Henderson, who averaged a 36.22 on his 9-hole rounds, will lead this group to hopefully bigger and better finishes.

Cole Nicoson, Hudson Tirevold, Emmitt Biersteadt and Caden Zotz join Henderson as returning players with varsity experience. Each player had high moments last season, but Hansen hopes another year together will help build on that positive development going forward.

“They’re really buying into the program that we are trying to make this year, which focuses on overall team building, mental toughness and practicing with a purpose,” Hansen said.

“It’s my hope that their [the previous senior class] shoes will be filled by the talented players we have coming back, hungry for a deeper run than last season.”

Max Merrill will be coming back to the team after a season off. Max Heinen will balance both golf and track/field this spring. Broc Boillig and Thomas Price have begin to take golf more seriously this past summer and are eager to continue expanding on their games.