Just Missed Qualifying Again

By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Each year the Bartlett golf team seems to add another win to their total. Two years ago, the Indian golfers went 5-9 and last fall they pushed that win total to 6 – it was only logical that the team would play good enough golf to garner that seventh win this season and earn themselves a spot in the post-season. 

Unfortunately, Bartlett went 6-8 once again and missed out on qualifying by one game for the second year in a row. To make matters worse, the Indians lost two matches by a single stroke and two other matches by five strokes leaving them looking at the other qualifiers from the outside.

This fall Coach Alex Hetherman had a minimum requirement of four golfers gracing his roster: two veterans and two newcomers. The foursome lead by senior captain Adam Urato gave it everything that they had each and every time they stepped onto a golf course. The captain was playing in his fourth season with the varsity team and put together another great season for the Indians shooting an average of 41 over nine holes.

The other returning golfer for Hetherman was junior Mason Sebestyanski, who was playing in his third season with Bartlett. The junior not only averaged a 39.5 shooting score, but he also finished ninth in the Southern Worcester Country League (SWCL) Tournament with an 82 over 18 holes. He was fifth at the Sectionals, shooting a 79 and finished 30 out of 80 golfers that participated in the State Tournament.

His coach had a feeling that the junior would put together the type of season he had after the summer-long work he put in at improving his game.

“There wasn’t a day all summer long that he didn’t have a golf club in his hands. He surprised a lot of people with all the work he did, but I knew that he was primed for a good season,” the Bartlett coach said “He was going to be a very good golfer for us this year and he played his best when it mattered the most. It was a huge leap in his game.”

Hetherman noted that despite all the success Sebestyanski was having throughout the season it never went to his head and he was always at practice trying to continue to improve his game as well as his other golfers with his advice.

Coming into the season, the coach had a feeling that the junior golfer was going to accomplish the things he did this year.

“I was not surprised at the things that he did this year,” Hetherman said. “He was prepared and had worked his butt off and came in ready to play.”

When Sebestyanski first walked onto the Bartlett golf team, he, too, was a newcomer to the sport, but the coach said that he picked up the game quickly while enjoying the sport. During his freshman season he shot in the high 40’s and dropped that score to the mid- to low 40’s while occasionally scoring in the high 30’s.

Bartlett’s other two golfers were playing the sport for the high school for the first and last time. Seniors Kole Sebestyanski and AJ Heenan both decided to try out the sport on the high school level this season. According to the coach, he believes that the duo found a new found enjoyment of the game and wanted to give it a try before they graduated. 

The elder Sebestyanski is a basketball player for the high school and Hetherman was glad to have him take to the golf course this fall. His scoring on the golf course got better as the season went on and he showed a steady improvement and was a key contributor to the team’s success.

Heenan was in a similar situation to Kole’s.

“He focused on his game all summer long and although he was not the best golfer on the team (shot a 50 in his very first varsity match), he was able to get his average down by the end of the year,” Hetherman said.

Having only a handful of golfers on the team and needing a minimum of four to participate during the season for the high school Hetherman knows the younger Sebestyanski will be the only returning golfer come next fall with three seniors vacating the squad due to graduation.

“That only means that Mason and I are going to have a lot of recruiting to do,” the coach said. “We’ve gone though this before when we lost three golfers to the football team, so we’re going to have to wait and see what happens when next year rolls around.”

Hopefully, the two will not only be able to recruit at least three more golfers but find some golfers that will be able to get them over the 6-game win total and into the post-season.