State the goal of Ottumwa linksters

By KELLY TERPSTRA, Courier sports writer

August 19, 2008 12:10 am

— OTTUMWA — Beaver Creek Golf Club in Des Moines awaits.
The Ottumwa boys golf team will play with a focused urgency this season in hopes its 2007 fate won’t be repeated.
Beaver Creek — the site of this year’s state meet — will consistently be on the mind of head coach Mike Cardin’s traditional power squad.
Ottumwa tees off the season in the first leg of the Metro Conference meet today at 9 a.m. at Grandview Golf Course in Des Moines.
Cardin returns all but one starter from last year’s squad — a talented team that missed the state meet by six strokes.
Ottumwa — winner of six state titles under Cardin — is looking to not become a victim of its district meet for the third time in the past four seasons. Ottumwa has missed the state meet twice in the last three years.
Ottumwa looks glossy on paper.
Back is the defending Class 2A State Co-Ed golf champ in senior Corbin Gardner. Also returning is junior Michael Wetrich, the 2006 Co-Ed state champ.
Senior Will Eldrenkamp is another ultra-talented linkster back for Cardin. Junior Taylor Mass will also be in the mix for the Bulldogs.
Sophomores Tyler Granneman and Cody Palmer will also keep many a drive on the fairways for Cardin’s varsity squad and be key members of the team.
Freshman Erik Thorgaard is a newcomer for Ottumwa and will also contribute.
“We’re looking to be pretty competitive,” said Cardin, who has been at the helm at Ottumwa for 22 years.
In the past five seasons, Ottumwa has qualified for state three times. Cardin and his linksters finished fourth at state in 2003. The Bulldogs finished seventh in each of its state appearances in 2004 and 2006. Ottumwa last won a boys state golf title in 1996.