Hillsboro High School golf returns with four seniors and two sophomores with varsity experience.

“We have a fairly solid core of four golfers that were in the varsity lineup for every meet last year,” Head Golf Coach Scott O’Hare said. “I believe there are as many as three to four others that could challenge for the other two varsity spots.”

Senior Daniel Kunantaev leads the Trojans. In his three years of golf experience, Kunantaev has finished in the top 20 at the 3A state championships every year, including two top five finishes.

“He is just a very solid all-around player and leads the team in virtually every area as far as shot-making abilities and scoring,” O’Hare said.

O’Hare also has high expectations for seniors Jared King and Daniel Dick, and sophomore Devin Dick.

“All three of them are very similar in terms of scoring potential,” O’Hare said. “They all shot their career best last season and all have the ability to go even lower this year.”

O’Hare thinks the key for the three golfers is being able to recover from a bad shot to avoid racking up strokes on a particular hole.

“Last season, it was typical for these three to play pretty solid golf for most of the round, but they would fall apart and score big on a couple of holes,” O’Hare said. “Much of that is course management and recovering from a bad shot. We will try to work on recovering in a smart way so that one bad shot does not lead to two or three more on the same hole.”

Senior Evan Just and sophomore Thane Hurst make up the returning golfers.

Hurst had to leave the team during the season last year because of health issues, but O’Hare hopes that he will come back at full strength.

Just filled in for Hurst after medaling in two junior varsity tournaments last season. O’Hare is impressed with Just’s steady improvement throughout his golf career.

O’Hare is looking forward to the Marion County 36-hole Invitational to test the skills of each golfer.

“I like to see how our kids can compete against some tough competition through a grueling day of walking 36 holes,” O’Hare said. “The ‘cream of the crop’ really rises through a tournament format such as this one.”