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Chris Parker/ThisWeek

Senior Hannah Hunt is among the top returnees for the Marysville girls golf team, which opens Monday, Aug. 13, at the Gahanna Invitational.

With the graduation of Tess Fraser, Marysville High School girls golf coach Sue Wyman realizes this will be a fresh start for her team.

Fraser, who is a freshman at Kent State, closed her career at Marysville last fall by competing in the Division I state tournament for the second consecutive season.

Fraser finished second (146) at state behind Geneva's Danielle Nicholson (143). She finished the season with a 74.5 average and was medalist in nine of the Monarchs' final 11 events, and second in the other two.

"The thing that is nice is the team does build a good camaraderie," said Wyman, whose team opens Monday, Aug. 13, in the Gahanna Invitational at Jefferson. "The girls are all really encouraging each other. They all know that the door is open for anybody to fit into anyone of those positions."

Wyman expects senior Hannah Hunt, junior MacKenzie Edgar and sophomore Abby Ketterman -- all returning players -- to lead the team. She expects freshmen Deanna DeHoff, Emily Hunt, Shruti Parashar and Emma Romine to round out the lineup.

Hannah and Emily Hunt are sisters.

"I'm young again this year," said Wyman, who is in her sixth season. "I have six freshmen coming out."

Last season, Marysville finished second (335) in the Raymond Memorial sectional behind Dublin Coffman (330) and eighth (378) in the district tournament at Bent Tree behind champion Dublin Jerome (312).

Fraser's 74.25 average in OCC-Capital Division play helped the Monarchs (20-4) finish second behind Coffman (24-0) and ahead of Worthington Kilbourne (15-9), Hilliard Bradley (13-11), Westerville North (5-18-1), Westerville Central (5-18-1) and Westerville South (0-24).

"My goals are never about the wins and losses," Wyman said. "My goal is that we learn a great game and all of the aspects that go along with it. We're focusing this year on good etiquette and sportsmanship, and making sure that we take care of the course when we're out there."

Twins expected to lead boys golf team

Second-year boys golf coach Anthony Given expects sophomore twins Morgan and Wyatt Tarrant to lead the team.

Last season, Morgan Tarrant had an 80 average.

"They're real competitive with each other and it's a healthy competition, which is good to have," Given said.

The Monarchs open by playing host to the Marysville Invitational on Monday, Aug. 13, at Marysville Golf Club.

Other players expected to contend for starting spots are junior Andrew Balsiger, sophomore Luke Morse and freshman Jonathon Kaffenbarger.

The Monarchs lost five players to graduation, including Chris Grady, who led the team with a 78 average.

"We have two returning players (in the Tarrants), but other than that it's going to be a brand new team," Given said. "We're going to be real young. We don't have any seniors coming out this year for golf. It's great to have a young team. We're rebuilding and learning a lot this year. We're looking forward to the future. I'm hopeful on the season."

The Monarchs were sixth (12-16) in the OCC-Cardinal last season behind Jerome (28-0), Westerville Central (23-5), Olentangy (14-14), Olentangy Liberty (14-14) and Westerville North (14-14) and ahead of Westerville South (7-21) and Dublin Scioto (0-28).

Jerome went on to win the Division I state title.

Marysville was fifth (328) in the Darby Creek sectional behind champion Coffman (296).

Marysville and Liberty have moved to the OCC-Central and will compete against Central Crossing, Coffman, Hilliard Davidson, Thomas Worthington, Upper Arlington and Westland.

"I want to see improvement in the athletes since they're learning," Given said. "I want them to learn more about the game and the rules."

Veteran tennis coach looks for improvement

Girls tennis coach Stephanie Linder is hoping her team can improve on last season's finish of 2-13 overall and 0-7 during the regular season in the OCC-Cardinal.

Marysville opens Monday, Aug. 13, at Bellefontaine. The Monarchs play four matches in the first week.

Marysville returns three players with ample varsity experience in junior Haley Willoughby and sophomores Megan Marsh and Taylor Shirk.

"Those three girls are pretty evenly matched," Linder said.

Several of the other players are new to the sport, she said.

"We still have a pretty young team, so we're working on trying to increase our match experience," said Linder, who is in her 15th season.

Last season, the Monarchs finished eighth (1 point) in the league behind Jerome (77, 7-0), Liberty (54, 6-1), Westerville Central (42, 5-2), Dublin Scioto (37, 4-3), Olentangy (22, 2-5), Westerville South (19, 3-4) and Westerville North (16, 1-6).

Jerome won its first OTCA state tournament title and finished 22-0 in dual matches.

The Monarchs did not win a match in the Division I sectional tournament at Davidson.

Marysville will compete in the realigned OCC-Central, but Linder expects the competition to remain challenging.

"We're hoping to post some wins," she said. "I know we didn't have that many last year. The team is young, so a lot of the kids don't have match experience. We're hoping they gain some confidence in our league because it's pretty tough. I hope we see with a lot of the younger girls coming through hopefully that will help build the program and we'll start to get a bit more competitive. We're looking forward to it. It's a great group of girls and they've all been working very hard. They're excited to get going and we're excited that they're so committed, so I think it's going to be a good season."