Longtime Ankeny boys’ golf coach Mike Weddingfeld faces a major rebuilding task in 2025.
Weddingfeld will have to replace several seniors from last year’s team, including a trio of standouts in Duncan Beelner, Evan Hodapp and his son, Caden. Those three were stalwarts on the varsity squad over the last few seasons.
Beelner tied for 12th in last year’s Class 4A state meet at Briarwood Golf Club with a two-day total of 152. Weddingfeld tied for 18th with a 154 total while helping the Hawks to an eighth-place finish.
Hodapp tied for 58th when he qualified as an individual in 2022, then helped his team to a 10th-place finish as a junior. He combined with Beelner, Weddingfeld, Kyler Crimmins and Sam Ortega to make a total of nine state-meet appearances.
Seniors Ryan Constable and Gavin Ross are the only returning players with any varsity experience. Constable played in eight varsity meets a year ago and placed fifth on the team with a 40.29 average, while Ross played in all 14 meets and finished sixth on the squad with a 40.31 average.
“I am hoping that both Gavin and Ryan step into the leadership roles for the team since they are my only returners from last season,” said Weddingfeld.
Ross shot a season-best 75 to place 13th in the Steve Spray Invitational at the Indianola Country Club. He later tied for 27th at the state meet, where he carded back-to-back rounds of 78 and 79 for a 157 total.
Constable also posted a season-best score at Indianola, where he shot a 77. He carded an 80 to help the Hawks to a fifth-place finish in the CIML Conference meet at Otter Creek, then tied for 53rd at the state meet with a 164 total after matching his season-best score with a 77 in the opening round.
A total of 37 boys took part in tryouts earlier this week. Ankeny will open its season on Monday by competing in the Jesse Peck Invitational at Briarwood, where the Hawks will try to defend the title they won a year ago.
“All six of my current varsity roster that will be participating Monday are seniors so they have been around the program, but as far as varsity experience four of them will be new to that challenge,” Weddingfeld said. “As seniors they will need to step up and be our leaders, and I feel we have some guys who can compete.”
Constable and Ross will be joined in the team’s opening lineup by Griffen Beelner, Gage Behrens, Elliot McHose and Chase Ortega.
“A couple of those names (Beelner and Ortega) should look familiar as their older brothers were on varsity last season, so hopefully they have some idea of what it will take to be competitive this season,” Weddingfeld said.
Weddingfeld was encouraged by what he saw during the tryouts.
“I do feel that this team has a lot of potential,” he said. “We had some very competitive scores posted over the two days and truthfully the 7, 8 and 9 scores were very close to breaking the top six so I feel there could be some great competition throughout the season for those varsity spots. We will be inexperienced at the varsity level, but I feel that I have a great group of guys that will really work hard this season and can come together to form a great team.”