By Reagan Hoverman

The Ellsworth Panthers girls golf team has one of the youngest varsity rosters in the Middle Border Conference. The starting lineup, which features three freshmen, a sophomore and two seniors, has been consistently improving throughout the first two weeks of the golf season.

While it’s been clear that no roster in the Middle Border Conference is capable of catching the Prescott Cardinals, a program that has won back-to-back state championships, the Panthers are excited about young foundational players who are just getting to the varsity level.

Ellsworth head coach Carson Huppert was candid in his comments about Prescott’s greatness, but also hopeful when speaking about the young talent that he has on his roster. Even for freshmen like Lexi Marks, Nora Feuerhelm and Addy Huppert, the growth has been incredible through three weeks of coaching and tournament experience.

“It’s promising, it looks good for how we’re going to improve throughout this year and years to come,” Carson Huppert said. “I think we can even start competing with most of the teams in our conference, outside of Prescott, of course, right now. Those younger girls are all getting better and better every single day.”

Through the first two conference meets, Ellsworth has finished fourth and fifth out of six total teams in the conference. The first conference meet was on Monday, Aug. 22, at the Princeton Valley Golf Course in Eau Claire.

Marks posted a team-best 49, senior Kayley Bayer shot a 50, Addy Huppert posted a 55, sophomore Katie Gillespie shot a 57, sophomore Aaliyah Huppert shot a 58 and Feuerhelm rounded out the scoring with a 64.

At that first Middle Border Conference meet, Ellsworth posted a total team score of 211, one shot better than Osceola’s sixth-place 212 and only one shot worse than Somerset’s 210. Saint Croix Central posted a 196, Altoona-Regis shot a 185 and Prescott took home first place with a 158.

The second conference meet was on Monday, Aug. 29, at the Amery Golf Course. Ellsworth earned a fourth-place finish with a total team score of 214, edging out Somerset’s 237 and Osceola’s 255. The Panthers trailed Saint Croix Central at 209, Altoona-Regis at 189 and Prescott at 165.

Ellsworth scores included Bayer 50, Marks 52, Gillespie 55, Feuerhelm 57, Aaliyah Huppert 59 and Addy Huppert 60. Through the first two conference meets Ellsworth has been within 15 shots of taking third place.

According to coach Carson Huppert, the goal for the golf team this season is simple – continue to improve every day and gain valuable experience throughout the season. He spoke about the young girls on his roster not only being talented but having a type of “grinder” mentality that a lot of golfers don’t have.

“We need to keep working and keep getting better and we do have some grinders on our team that are hungry to win,” Carson Huppert said. “If we can just keep getting better and make it to sectionals, I think that would be a huge success for our team.”

This freshman group of Marks, Feuerhelm and Addy Huppert is as competitive a group as Carson Huppert has had. He spoke about their competitive fire, dealing with losing and being a grinder in this sport.

“The younger girls don’t take losing lightly. It’s good that they’re hungry and work hard,” Carson Huppert said. “In the past, we would get a few here and there that were grinders, but other times they would just play golf when golf season happened – that’s not the case with these girls. They work at it (constantly) and it’s great to see.”

Coach Huppert stated that those younger girls are never satisfied with what they’ve done. He said that they’ve been known to stay after and keep playing, even after the practice has ended. The next meet on the schedule for Ellsworth is on Tuesday, Aug. 30, at the Pheasant Hills Golf Course. That meet is expected to begin at 4 p.m.