THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, May 10, 2015

Joseph Glenn and Drew Harris have garnered most of the headlines, but in their own way, Colton Serdahl and Ty Brearley have also been important members of the best Post Falls High boys golf team in years.

Serdahl was on and off the varsity five all year, but stuck with it and earned a spot on the state-qualifying team.

"They started out rough to begin with," Post Falls coach Maria Kostina said. "I've never heard a single excuse from Colton the whole year ... he just fought his way back. He earned his spot back, without complaining. I think just going through that process during the season made them stronger."

Post Falls battled Lewiston all season long, and last week finished second to the Bengals by four strokes at the 5A Region 1 tournament at Avondale Golf Club in Hayden Lake to easily qualify for state.

State is Monday and Tuesday, also at Avondale.

THE TROJANS are young, eager, deep and talented. Kostina said she didn't know who the top five were going to be at the beginning of the season, there was so much competition.

In one tournament earlier this season, the Post Falls varsity boys finished first - and the Trojan No. 2 team finished second.

"All the kids are very passionate about the game," Kostina said. "They want to be good, they want to get better. If you have that kind of quality, then you can definitely do some things with it."

Harris and Glenn, both juniors but with contrasting styles, have been the Trojans' top two players much of the season. Chase Bomar, son of Prairie Falls co-owner Billy Bomar, is a sophomore.

Glenn won the recent Kraus Invitational - at Avondale - with a 1-under-par 71, and the Trojans beat Lewiston in a playoff for the team title.

"He's really progressed tremendously from last year," Kostina said. "He's kind of a small-sized kid ... but gosh, he's using every ounce of his strength. He can hit the ball a long ways. He's had a phenomenal golf swing since he was 3 years old. He's never had a golf lesson."

Harris won the Genesis Prep invite, where Post Falls beat Lewiston by four strokes.

"He's more of a grip-it-and-rip-it," Kostina said. "This kid can get on a roll, in the future I can see him shooting pretty low ... he doesn't think, he just goes, which is good, because a lot of times, thinking gets in the way."

NO EXCUSES.

Kostina tells her players not to worry about the score they just shot - just work on getting a little bit better each time out.

"We try to make things uncomfortable at practices so when tournaments come, they feel a lot more comfortable," she said. "There's a lot of games we play that puts them out of their comfort zone. Any time I hear one of them say, 'Oh, coach, I had bad lies last tournament, every time I was in a divot,' the next round we played everything out of bad lies. It makes it so they're ready for anything."

If some of that sounds familiar, that's because her mentor, Randy Henry, who runs a local golf academy, teaches a similar way.

Post Falls will have an advantage at state having played a few rounds at Avondale. But only the two seniors - Serdahl and Brearley - have any previous state experience, having played for the Trojan team two years ago at Lewiston.

"I think the kids know they've got confidence they can shoot good numbers," Kostina said. "Mainly it's like going out there and pretending it's like any other tournament you've played."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.

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