PREP GOLFERS TAKE DEAD AIM ON '97 SEASON

Area high school golf teams return plenty of experience from last season's successful teams.

Notre Dame and Jackson, both coming off state qualifying seasons, appear ready for a return to the state meet. Cape Girardeau Central lost its only state-qualifying golfer to graduation but will still look to be competitive.

Central opens its season Wednesday at Sikeston. Notre Dame starts its schedule Thursday at Bent Creek with a three-team match between both Perryville schools, St. Vincent and Perryville public.

Jackson won't open up until March 31 with a three-team home meet against Central and Notre Dame.

A look at the local linksters:

Notre Dame

Notre Dame coach Chris Janet is expecting big things this season with four golfers returning from the Bulldogs' first-ever state qualifying team last year.

"Four of the five guys I took to state are returning so we're optimistic that we'll be pretty competitive," Janet said.

Senior Dan Buerck, who qualified for state individually as a sophomore, returns for what he hopes will be his third trip to state. Other returnees from the state-qualifying team are juniors Jonathan LeGrand, Matt Howard and Chris Koeper.

"Those four make for a solid top four," Janet said. "The next two varsity spots will be a battle between Cliff Seratti, Jason Daly and Nick Spantgos."

With golf entering the fourth year of existence at Notre Dame, the state tournament experience should be an advantage for the golfers returning. Janet said the team is hungry for a return appearance.

"Last year, our kids were sophomores and kind of feeling our way through," he said. "But this year, we feel more confident that we can be competitive."

Cape Central

Central coach Dick Wadlington returns three of the top five players from last year's 14-4 squad and is looking forward to a competitive season.

Junior Dane McLaird is the top returning Tiger golfer, coming back for his third year of varsity.

"Dane was our No. 1 man last year and I expect him to have another good year," Wadlington said. "He's played a lot of golf in junior leagues over the summers and is not a typical junior. He's got a lot of good experience."

McLaird is the only current Central player with state tournament experience, competing at state as a freshman. Last year, as a sophomore, he missed qualifying for state by one stroke.

Senior Chris Patterson returns for his final year on the links and Karin Askelof, a Swedish foreign exchange student, is also being looked at as a possible contributor.

"She's a pretty good player and a delightful young lady," Wadlington said, noting Askelof will be at a disadvantage having to play from the men's tees in high school competition. "You can tell she's good because she has the ability to be in (our) top five."

Others with experience are juniors Mike Oslund and Bryan Welker.

"Mike played No. 6 for us last year but he's improved quite a bit over the summer," said Wadlington. "Bryan was in our top five last year."

Sophomores Danny Groesbeck and Kent Phillips will also be counted on at times this year.

Jackson

Jackson coach Ron Cook has a senior-laden team with a lot of experience returning from last year's 4A state qualifying team.

"We're shooting to go back to state," Cook said. "We've got some good players that want to go back so it all depends on how hard they work from now until districts."

Three seniors with state experience will attempt to lead Jackson back to the state tournament. John Litzelfelner, a state qualifier the past two years, will be the No. 1 man for Jackson. Litzelfelner has already signed on to play golf at Southeast Missouri State next year.

Travis Reiminger, fresh off an undefeated state championship wrestling season, will be looking for that same success on the golf course. Clint Faries also competed at state last season and will be counted on for consistency.

Other team members looking to make contributions will be seniors Tyler Lubbers, Matt Wilson, Jeff Mungle and Tyler Birk. Sophomore Gabe Estes is also looking to crack into the top four.