Manhattan High Boys Golf closed out their successful regular season strong with a second place finish at the Junction City invitational on May 7. The Indians finished with 311 strokes, 31 over par. Sophomore Charlie Haney topped the podium with an eagle, totaling 70 strokes. Senior Cade Cochran added a seventh-place finish to Manhattan’s resume. At Cary Park Golf Course in Hutchinson, Manhattan had an uncharacteristic 13th place finish. The Indians needed 311 strokes to complete the course, 23 over par. Haney was able to break the podium with a third-place result.
MHS successfully defended their title at League on May 5, winning for the third consecutive year. The Indians’ totaled up 301 strokes, nine more than second place Washburn Rural. Haney took home his fourth gold of the season, scoring even par, while Cochran and senior Will Carpenter finished in fifth and sixth place respectively.
“More than the three-peat, we lost at that golf course to Washburn my freshman year, and we were a lot better than them,” Cochran said. “That one kind of bothered me for a little bit. So going back to that course and getting it done was definitely a good feeling.”
The Indians will continue the post-season at Regionals on May 18. MHS has won Regionals three years in a row and hope to defend their title and extend their winning streak to four.
“Regionals are at our home course, which is awesome,” Cochran said. “I’ve played that golf course all the time. I worked there, and I’ve seen all the ins and outs of it, and so I definitely think it’ll be a huge advantage for us. Hopefully, we can go in there and win. If we do, it’ll be my fourth Regional win, which would be really cool.”
Manhattan will wrap-up their post-season at Firekeeper Golf Course on May 26-27.
“I love the golf course that it’s at…Hopefully we can go out there and play hard, hopefully throw some good scores out there,” Cochran said. “It’s obviously a really hard tournament to win with a lot of really good teams…For me, I’m just going to try and enjoy these last couple of tournaments of my high school golf career, have fun, go compete and see what happens.”
With his golf career nearly over, Cochran is taking in everything he can.
“I love my team,” Cochran said. “It’s been so fun. We have such a good group of guys…I’m really just trying to cherish it. I’m not playing college golf, and I’ve been playing golf tournaments since I was super little. This year has been a huge blessing to be able to do it with some of my best friends, and we’re having fun, and we’ve worked really hard. I hope we can finish the season strong to do justice to all the work that we have put in.”
