MORGANTOWN — The golf program at Trinity Christian is turning to its past with an eye on the future.
Mark Spruill, who graduated from TCS in 2019, is the first-year head coach of the Warriors’ golf program. He also just happens to be a former member of the TCS golf program.
In fact, Spruill was part of the last Warriors golf team that qualified for states in 2017. He also qualified for states as an individual in 2018.
“It really started with someone planting the seed in my brain for me,” Spruill, who is a sports management major at WVU, said. “The former coach (Brian Golden) messaged me and said he was stepping down and wanted to know if I had any interest in taking the position.”
With a little encouragement from his former golf coach Mike Baldy, a decision was made by Spruill to return to his roots and take over the TCS golf program.
“Right when I was thinking about it, the AD (Codey Horton) asked me if I would be interested in helping with the (boys’) basketball team,” Spruill said. “it just seemed the perfect storm.”
This season, the Warriors have 10 golfers out for the team and Spruill, who began his college years at Alderson Broaddus as a member of the golf team, said he is excited with the turn out for the program.
Trinity also only lost three golfers from last season, so the future of the program is bright.
“This is an amazing group of kids,” Spruill said. “They are a joy to be around and to a degree they feel like that 2017 team. They listen to what I have to tell them, they are all friends. In all honestly, they have the potential to be really good.”
The Warriors have just one senior, Will Hancox, on the team and he will be the No. 5 man most days. Although, Spruill said that Hancox has a chance to be one of the top golfers on the team.
Will McPherson, a junior, is the No. 1 golfer on the team, and according to Spruill, he has earned the spot with his scores and his ability to carry himself like a top player on the course.
Sophomore Chayce Adams and Josh Mercure are the No. 2 and 3 for the Warriors while junior Eddie Tudor figures to be the No. 4 golfer most days although Tudor did have the low-nine-hole score during tryouts.
Abigail Fisher, a sophomore, is the lone female golfer on the team and Spruill said she will figure in the teams scoring during some events. Spruill also said he is trying to get Fisher focused on competing at a girls’ only invitation later this season.
After those top six golfers, Spruill said he has four golfers that are continuing to improve with hopes of helping the team in the future. Sophomores Landon Murdock and Kohen Coombs are both back on the team while Brock Lewis and Max Mancuso are new to the program.
“I am excited about giving back to the school where I have a lot of good memories,” Spruill said. “Many of our golfers have not played a lot this summer. If we can keep improving, I think we are a little bit of a dark horse and I think we can make some noise, especially coming down the stretch this season.”
By ERIC HERTER
