By Mike Weber
For Columbia Gorge News
THE DALLES - The Dalles High Riverhawk Class 4A boys and girls golf teams started their seasons by competing in home tournaments last week at The Dalles Country Club.
The Riverhawk boys squad, guided by first-year head Coach Josh Waller, took fourth place in a five-team tourney March 20. The Riverhawks shot a team score of 434, behind Estacada at 410, Goldendale at 400, and winner Seaside at 350.
“I am excited about the being the new coach, especially since we’re such a young team with lots of sophomores and freshmen,” said Waller, who replaced longtime (21-years) Coach Dan Telles, who retired last year. “I’ll have some big shoes to fill in replacing Dan Telles, but at the same time, I think the boys will learn a lot from me. It’s good to see that there’s younger people who want to be on the team.”
The Riverhawks were led last week by senior Andrew Westin, who shot a 98 for 18 holes. The four-player squad also included junior Harley Beaver (101), freshman AJ Schultz (109) and sophomore Nautis Kerr (122).
Waller, a 1996 Hood River Valley High graduate, is in his second year as a golf coach. He coached the boys team at Horizon Christian High School in Hood River in 2010. Waller has known Telles for a long time; Telles was Waller’s basketball coach when he played on the Eagle freshman squad in 1992.
“I’m hoping that I can kind of help mold the younger guys and show a few tricks to the older guys to help them cut a few strokes down so that we can hopefully give our No. 1 guy (Westin) a chance to qualify for state this year,” said Waller.
The Riverhawks have one of their largest teams in recent years with 18 golfers starting practice March 2. The Riverhawks had individual state tournament qualifiers for eight consecutive years through 2024, but that streak ended last season.
The Dalles girls golf
The Riverhawk nine-member girls squad, guided by fifth-year Coach Nate Timmons, played its season opener March 17 in The Dalles. “We’re looking pretty good this year and we’ll have five new girls along with the four varsity players returning from last season,” said Timmons. “The nine girls is the most I’ve ever had on our team in my five-year career and we had a pretty good start to the season in our home tournament.”
The Riverhawks took fourth place with a team score of 448. Pendleton took first place ahead of Dufur. The Riverhawks were led by senior Elliot Winwood, who took fifth place individually out of 39 golfers with a career-best score of 96. Junior Riley Elliot also shot a career best 100.
“I think we’ll definitely have a good chance of reaching the state tournament as a team and I think Elliot has a really good shot at qualifying for state individually,” said Timmons. “I think our team and Madras will be the top teams in our league this year.”
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