By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Prior to the year beginning, the Ashland golf team was hoping that they could put together at least an 8-8 regular season record and earn themselves a trip to the State Tournament. The Clockers took things down to the wire teeing off against Holliston on the last day of the season needing a win to accomplish their goal. 

“That last match we played one of our best days of golf, unfortunately Holliston did play their best and we fell by two strokes,” Ashland Coach Mike Roman said. “The loss left us at 7-9 with no tournament. We weren’t really disappointed, we had played phenomenal golf all year with some great scores, we just came up short.”

Roman enlisted tri-captains Nathan Gerlovin, Yash Pawnarkar and Rebecca Kriegsman the tough task of leading Ashland into the State Tournament. According to the Coach, all three are committed to the sport of golf and are consistently three of the team’s best scorers, with Kriegsman being the best of the three.

All three began teeing off at a very young age and with the involvement of a family member. Kriegsman and Pawnarkar got into golf because of their fathers, while Gerlovin took up the sport seriously because of his grandmother.

“I began playing informally when I was young, but started to get serious over covid,” Gerlovin said. “My grandmother was an avid golfer and I joined her on the golf course. It was not only a bonding time with her, but she definitely helped me to improve my game.”

Pawnarkar, who finds himself more of a tennis player than a golfer, remembers playing golf with his father and younger brother as long as he can remember. While Kriegsman took up the sport at the age of five when her father, who was really into the game, wanted one of his daughters to get involved with him on the golf course. After trying the game, she found that she really loved the sport.

“Golf is a sport that is reliant upon yourself,” she said. “You can’t blame anyone else if you make a mistake - it’s all on you. In high school golf is a team sport, but you can only blame yourself in how you play.”

All three captains share the same love of the game looking to help make Ashland a better team on the golf course.

“One of my goals when I joined the golf team in high school was to one day become a captain,” Pawnarkar said. “I could see myself as a captain as I like to help others with their game and I enjoy teaching.”

As a captain Gerlovin, who was excited to squeak onto the varsity team a s freshman, remembers being taken under the win of a captain when he first got to Ashland and wanted to return the favor in addition to representing the school and town in a positive light. He also wanted to make sure everyone was also having fun while they tried to win.

Kriegsman, who was also a captain last year as a sophomore, never thought of herself as a captain, but once she was named one she wanted to make an impact with the team. She goes out onto the course and leads by example.

“Although I was only a sophomore I wanted to teach everyone young and old on the team. I showed them my passion for the game while not getting overwhelmed,” the now junior captain said. “I am good at leaving bad shots behind me and I wanted the rest of the team to learn how to do that as well. 

Although the Clockers did not surpass their goals of winning at least eight games, the trio believes that the team without a doubt had themselves a good campaign this fall.

“We lost a lot of talented seniors coming into this season,” Gerlovin said. “But as a whole the team played really this year. We had a great Coach and we all worked extremely hard and played our game.”

Kriegsman came into this year calling it unpredictable. Having lost the eight seniors. The junior captain was unsure of just how well the team was going to play this year, but the younger kids stepped up.

“Everyone worked together to finish 7-9,” she said. “We had matches were we all played super good or we all played super bad – that’s why it was so unpredictable. Next year, will be more of the same as we’re losing a lot of seniors this year as well.”

Pawnarkar believes that although the team didn’t accomplish their goal of making it to the tournament, they did help the younger golfers to improve their game so that they can take the reigns when he and the rest of the seniors depart.

Despite not getting to the post-season Ashland did happen to break a couple of school records this past season. The Clockers were able to break the High School record at Pinecrest Country Club by first shooting a 225 and then later in the year a 224 to break it again.

“Late in the season we had to win 3 of 4 matches to get into the tournament and two teams were sure loses, so we had our backs against the wall” Pawnarkar said. “After losing one we found ourselves in a tough spot. Against Norwood, we still had hopes of getting into the playoffs and that day we were all locked in and had a fantastic day to set the record.”

Individaully, Kriegsman shot a four under par to set the school record at Pinecrest Country Club. She will also be participating in the Sectionals for the second time, but this year will be a little different than last year.

“In the past I’ve taken part in the girls Sectionals in the Spring, this year I am taking part I the co-ed Sectionals,” Kriegsman said. “This is my first time and I’ll have to play from the boys tees. I am just looking to go out and have a decent round.”

The junior golfer will also take part in the Individual State Tournament, where she finished tied for ninth last year, and will be only the second Ashland golfer to take part in the New England Tournament in late October at Mohegan Sun.