John Raffel

Sports Scene

Senior leadership could lead Ithaca a long way in the boys’ golf ranks this season.

The Yellow Jackets made some noise with a strong performance in mid-April at the St. Ives Match Play Invitational at Chippewa Hills, where they placed fourth.

David Brown, in the No. 2 flight, won a first-place championship. Garrett Miniard, in No. 1 flight, had a fourth-place finish. Luke Rayburn, in the No. 3 flight, and John Rayburn in No. 4 each took home a third-place finish.

During a mid-April TVC match at Bayou Golf Course in Freeland, Ithaca scored a 163 to edge St. Charles, which finished at 164.

Luke Rayburn, Brown, and Miniard, three of the Yellow Jackets’ seniors, came through with 39, 40, and 41, respectively. Alex Vanderploeg was the No. 4 golfer at 43, followed by Zach Allen with 44, and Jon Rayburn at 46.

The Yellow Jackets were fifth with 342 at the Greenville Invitational. Miniard was eighth for the tournament with an 80, while Brown was 15th with an 83, Luke Rayburn 30th with an 89, and Jon Rayburn 36th with a 90.

The team has qualified for the state finals in the past. Ithaca was 10th at last year’s Division 3 state finals. Brown led the way there with a 157, while Miniard fired a 162, and Luke Rayburn a 169.

When the three seniors were sophomores, they were fifth at the state finals. Brown had a 159 at that tournament, while Miniard scored a 163, and Rayburn had a 167.

Every year, we’ve been up there to compete for state,” Luke Rayburn, a four-year team member, said. “That’s a huge accomplishment.”

Rayburn liked the way the team was playing early in the season. We’re going to be all right,” he said. “We’re still searching for a fifth and sixth man. We have five seniors on the team. We’ll have a nice shot at state again.”

Rayburn was in the high 70s and low 80s last season.

I took a few lessons this summer,” he said. “Hopefully, I can work on it all year. Don’t lose focus, basically.”

Rayburn has been happy with his driving and putting.

I’m always confident with my driving when I step up there,” he said. “I’ve never had much problem with that. I haven’t three-putted much either. Both of those have been my highlight and are kind of saving me.”

Rayburn said he continues to work on his second shot.

I ‘ve been so random I can either hit every single green or spread it 20 yards left or right,” he said. “My irons been hurting me.”

Brown, who also plays football and basketball, is also a fourth-year golfer. A highlight for him was qualifying for the state finals his freshman year, along with qualifying as a team his sophomore and junior years.

We want to win our league and have a good chance at qualifying for state and finishing in the top 10,” Brown said. “We have Luke, Garrett ,and myself, on the varsity four years. We’ve been kind of the main guys.”

Last season, Brown averaged in the high 70s for 18. He’s hoping for around that or a little bit lower this spring.

He’s been having a strong short game and has been working on his drives and his longer iron shots.

We had some nice weather before the season actually started,” Brown said. “Then on spring break, I golfed. We’re getting into full swing. I haven’t been too far behind.”

It’s the last high school sport season in the fabulous careers of the seniors, who were also on the two state championship football teams in 2010 and 2011.

That’s our goal, we’ve been around it seems like forever. We want to go out on top and leave our mark on Ithaca sports,” Brown said.

It’s coach Corey Smith’s fifth year at Ithaca.

We have those three seniors that have been on the varsity since their freshmen year,” Smith said. “We should be okay in the long run.”

Smith added that Jon Rayburn, Luke’s cousin, is expected to play a key role in the fourth slot.

He had some varsity matches last year,” Smith said. “He’s been playing for a long time.”

Smith is excited about the season’s prospects. He wouldn’t be surprised to see the team advancing to the state finals and doing well.

Every year I stress to them that winning the league is our first goal,” he said. “We need to develop someone into our fifth spot. If we can develop some of our young players to step in and do well for us….”

Miniard, Smith noted, “has been our team captain the last year or two and is a tremendous leader for us. I expect him to shoot in the 70s most of the time. He’ll be our top or No. 2 player most of the year.

Luke has settled into that third spot. Luke is a good driver, and Garrett is right there too. They hit it long. David does the short game well.”