Prep Golf 2017 Preview: Seacrest has unfinished business; Barron Collier rebuilding a bit

The Seacrest Country Day boys golf team finished 22-0 last season. But one "loss" ended the Stingrays' stellar season without a state tournament berth.

Then-junior David Morgan went on to tie for fifth at the Class 1A state tournament, win Daily News Player of the Year honors, and has committed to the University of Virginia. Teammate Chase Bigham, also now a senior, has committed to Florida Gulf Coast University. Juniors Jayson Iten and Blake Wheeler also have collegiate hopes.

But first, they want to erase that ending.

"It was the season I expected last year and then the regionals, two of my golfers who are extremely consistent golfers all year long imploded on the same day," said Seacrest coach Dave Morgan -- David Morgan's father. "I really only play with four. I'll play with four again this year. If one or two guys have a bad day, it's tough to come back.

"That's nice to have four kids that can play. I'd rather have five or six, but I'm not complaining with four."

2016 Naples Daily News All-Area Boys Golf Team

Coach Morgan -- like many high school coaches -- isn't instructing his players, who have their own swing coaches. Sometimes he's not even at practice because all of them are in Seacrest's academy, which gets out at noon. The players then head to practice.

"They all head out to Bear's Paw and practice together," he said. "I stay out of their way. They really kind of run their own practices and make their own challenges."

The four golfers are busy playing tournaments during the summer, so the coach sees high school golf as kind of a different mindset for them.

"This is a fun time for the boys," he said. "High school golf is a lot of fun. But it's no fun when you lose and you don't get to go to state as a heavy favorite. It's an important lesson that they all learned."

Gulf Coast's boys were eighth in the 3A state tournament last year, but lost seniors Christian Taylor, Peter George and Trace Babb. Community School edged the Stingrays to make the 1A state tournament and top players Harrison Ornstein, Joshua Braverman and Tommy Amendola were all sophomores. But Braverman is now at Naples High, which made the 2A state tournament and returns junior Chad Tracy and sophomores James Tureskis and John Wolner.

For the girls, Barron Collier finished fifth in 2A last year and lost Makenzie Hotchkiss and Kelly Newbrough to graduation. But there was another loss -- Annika Church, who figured to be the top returnee and was a Daily News All-Area finalist last year, transferred to Naples.

2016 Naples Daily News All-Area Girls Golf Team

That leaves coach Richie Packish with seniors Aly Packish, his daughter, and Ashley Cardona, and junior Alexandra Tomodan.

"I'm looking forward to the challenges that are ahead of us, but they all play well, so we'll see," Packish said. "I think as a whole we're not as strong as we were last year, but we're going to be very, very competitive."

Church's move to Naples High, which was 14th in the 2A state tournament, puts her with another all-area finalist, sophomore Vivian Guite, plus returners Alyssa Dehnz (sr.) and Isabella Dorobanti (jr.) and a trio of freshmen: Ashley Zimmermann, Victoria Ventura and Samantha Brito.

Don Tracy, who came back to coach last year, is now an assistant, with Laura Jewell taking over as head coach.

Gulf Coast tied for 10th in 3A at state last year and lost Vasy Montague, the Daily News Player of the Year, but returns seniors Cristal Olguin and Azelle Dietter and junior Sierra Studer, entering her third year on the varsity.