With his first year as Wright City boys golf coach wrapped up this spring, Stephen McClain is excited about the future of the program.

“I really enjoyed coaching and I feel the kids were really receptive to it,” McClain said. “I feel like the program will keep building and we have a lot of young guys that are going to stick around for next year.” 

Wright City ended its season with a 15th-place finish with a 454 at the Class 3, District 2 tournament on May 12 at Innsbrook Golf Course. No Wildcat qualified for the state tournament.

McClain said he emphasized his players on having good performances both on the course and in the classroom. 

“It’s nice to have set the standard for what we want in the program,” McClain said. “A lot of the kids turned their grades and behavior around and towards the end of the season, we didn’t have problems with grades.” 

McClain said some of his golfers showed signs of improvement.

“I think a lot of the guys got better at golf and we’re going to have a good team next year because a lot of the guys were playing golf for the first time,” McClain said. 

Several Wright City players earned team awards, including Dustyn Bailey, Jonathan Windmann and AJ Simon. Simon was named the team’s most improved player after being outside the top 10 of the team to become an alternate for districts.

“Dustyn Bailey showed big improvement and he was the MVP of the season, Jonathan Windmann went from not playing golf to getting rookie of the year and Parker Brown really improved his score as well,” McClain said. 

This year, the Wildcats will graduate five seniors – Bailey, Simon, Kye Schnarre, Andrew Hunn and Mason Wendt. Schnarre was the team’s top finisher at districts, placing 69th with a 110. 

McClain touted the senior class for often leading by example and showing the underclassmen good work ethic.  

“(Schnarre) won our Wildcat award, which is about leadership, coachability and dependability. (Hunn) was extremely dependable and determined to get better throughout the year,” McClain said. “They all showed what it takes to get better and they had big leadership roles.”

McClain said his team demonstrated great chemistry throughout the season.

“Seeing them have fun and grow together and take in a few of the young guys and make sure they feel welcome on the team was really nice to see,” he said. “There was really good team spirit.” 

McClain is confident that his team is going to shine next spring.

“I expect a better team this next year. We’ll have the experience and hopefully be able to get after it,” he said. “Those young guys are going to become leaders next year and we’re going to have a lot of leadership these next two years.”