By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

The Kennedy Lancers' boys and girls golf teams are good, no question about that. They opened up their season with a double win over Highline at the Rainier Golf and Country Club Tuesday.

The only real question now seems to be which one is better.
"The boys won the Seamount for the ninth league championship in a row," said Dyer.

And the girls, though not with quite that kind of staying power at the top of the league each season, possess the present team honor of the two genders of having done better at state.

"The girls took third at state last season," said Dyer, in his 10th season now coaching Kennedy golf. "The boys finished ninth at state."
So the past and the present collide for some answers, perhaps, and this season looks competitive as ever, too. The girls return their top three golfers: senior Nikki Miller, junior Addie Hedge and sophomore Mackenzie Milton.

The boys return their top four, being senior Jake Ryerson, senior Todd Johnson, senior Evan Galando and sophomore Ryan Sheardown.

The boys seem to have the edge, with four state returners. A fifth top notch golfer would-be qualiifier Jacob Green, who qualified for the postseason league tournament but other obligations kept him from competing there to potentially go on to the spring qualifier for state.
"Jacob had to work today, or he would be our solid No. 5. His average score is a 43," said Dyer, who also mentioned junior Nate Brumond, competing for those six spots on the team.

Kennedy's scores and numbers, from this meet with the Pirates, for the boys start with Galando. He earned medalist, ironing out a 39 score.

And Sheardown and Ryerson tied for second with 40 scores. Continuing with the bottom three, Johnson shot a 42, junior Alec Smith came in with a 42 and senior Paul Schumacher notched a 50 on this beautiful golf course, with a view of Mount Rainier and the Cascades. It also has wonderful shrubbery, evergreens and other sights dotting the way of the golfers walking the course.

For Highline's boys, a group coached by Shane Stenesen, who noted the graciousness of this club donating three days per week to Highline's golfing practices, not to mention meet events like this one, the best finisher, Noah Voges, turned in a 44 score after the nine holes.
"He will be shooting to qualify for the state tournament," said Stenesen.

The second best finisher for Highline was Jack Matson, garnering a 55, then Doug Gatto ended with 70.

And now to the girls round of golf, Kennedy's Miller managed medalist honors, shooting a 48, with Hedge going 50. Milton, a couple strokes behind, added in a 52. Finishing off the team scores was only one more score, junior Natasha Scandiffo's 63. The other two golfers collected X-outs.

For Highline's girls, junior Jacqueline Kemp shot a 54, and senior Kim Hansol stayed in the scoring with a 75.

"Jacqueline's progressed every year," said Stenesen. "She is our most consistent girl. "She's done better than today. She gets tired, but she can shoot in the 40s. So, just little things to improve upon, and that's the game of golf. She will contend for a spot in our league tournament."
To note, the league tournament gets underway on Oct. 25 in Auburn, with those top qualifiers going to a spring qualification tourney which precedes state in May at Gold Mountain in Bremerton.

Hansol came up to Stenesen after the match.

"I'm not doing very well," said Hansol.

Stenesen replied, "You're getting better. You're hitting the fairways."
Hansol said, "I was tired at the end."

"Yes," said Hansol. "Just consistency. Working harder."
"Ok," she said, smiling, leaving her coach.

Stenesen then commented, "She's a character. When she started, she couldn't even hit the ball. But she has improved a lot. She is one who is very good at doing the repetition. Once in memory, it's in there with her."

The medalist for the boys, Galando carried a sweet swing, not to mention bunting ability, being leadoff hitter for the South Highline National All-Stars team growing up in Little League baseball. He has transferred that hitting talent to golf.

"Yeah, it's a lot of fun," said Galando. "Playing with friends, always good. Playing bad, that's not fun."

This day was fun, being the top boy, but last season was not as fun for Galando.

"Didn't play as well as I'd hoped," said Galando. "Struggled the whole season, and once state arrived, I was not particularly motivated."
This opening match of the season versus Highline proved well.

"I was driving the ball good, hitting the fairways," said Galando. "Irons good and putting was very good, which kind of saved my round."
Galando shot a nice score under 40, the only one to do so on this day, but he says that he could have shot lower.

"The last couple holes I struggled with my approach shots," said Galando.

Galando noted that he's not the only one with the ability to improve.
"Jake didn't play as well as he'd have liked, and Ryan did alright, shot 40. He is usually very good with the short game but he struggled today. But that's golf."

Dyer's take on the boys outlook this season is somewhat conservative.
"We are hopeful to have another good season, and compete again at the state level," said Dyer, whose top individual golfer, Sheardown, took 18th. "Our core returning players are very strong and our newer players have a lot of promise."

And on the girls side for Kennedy, Miller thinks her team is on the right path to again attain notable success, like being one of the top girls teams in the state last season in 3A.

"We have a strong team," said Miller. "We can work harder in practices. We had three of us, Mackenzie, Addie and I, place third in state, which is really good, considering, we only had five golfers to make up points while other teams had six or five. I think, we can get one more person in there. We lost Rachel Navarro. She was a good asset to the team. But if we get one more girl to go to state, we can still place decently."
And of Dyer, Miller related, "He's a really good support system. He played in college, knows what's needed to improve and really knows the game."

So, girls or boys, then? It's a tough question to answer, one of which only time will tell.