HARDWICK – Head coach Andy Hunt and assistant and former Wildcat standout Aaron Molleur are set to lead the Hazen Union golf team into their second season this coming week, as their uphill battle to increase numbers for the developing program continues.
Hunt’s Wildcat golf program will have to fill the holes of graduating seniors Andrew Menard, Eliot Rosendahl, and Xavier Hill in his second season at the helm. Menard was a full-time player for Hunt last season and a multisport standout for both the Wildcats in baseball, as well as a captain for the Lyndon Institute boys’ hockey team. Hill and Rosendahl moonlighted with the golf team last season, while playing full-time for the Hazen boys’ varsity soccer team. Hill earned Vermont All-state soccer honors last fall after leading the Wildcats in scoring. He also earned Capital League Player of the Year honors for Hazen on the hardwood in his senior season. Hunt will have the luxury of continuing to build his program around returning senior Brendan Moodie. Since transferring from Peoples Academy in his sophomore season, Moodie has been Hazen’s best golfer, medaling five times, including four times last season. Moodie fired a team-low round of 89 last fall in sectional qualifying, good enough for a top 20 finish in Division II, but fell just short of qualifying for the state tournament. The talented senior appears to already be in mid-season form and ready for another level after acing the par-three sixth hole at Barton Golf Club last month.
“Brendan has put a lot of work in over the summer at Orleans Country Club and has really improved his game and is beginning to shoot sub-40 rounds on a regular basis,” said Hunt.
Hunt will also return senior Gavin Stratton, who showed considerable improvement last season in what was just his second year playing competitive rounds at the high school level. Junior Anderson Williams also returns to the team after competing for the Wildcats in both soccer and golf last fall. Sophomore Braydon Stratton, freshman Will Halprin, Remy Hodgdon, and Harvest Barcelow are newcomers to the team this season. A now full-time Greensboro resident and four-time club champion at Mountain View Country Club, Hunt hopes to create roots for the growth of the program at the youth level. He currently has three seventh graders practicing with the team.
“In my second season as coach, my focus is on player development. Next year we will add a middle school team with hopes of having some scrimmages with nearby schools and exposing them to other courses,” said Hunt.
The Wildcats are scheduled to tee-off the season on Wednesday at Stowe and will host their first matches of the season next Monday at Mountain View Country Club.
