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The Peninsula Seahawks golfers are in a league of their own. After convincingly winning the Class 3A Olympic League last year — players have said they’ve never lost a league match since joining the team — they have decided to take a different approach leading up to the state tournament: Internal competition. Seahawks coach Larry Gilhuly believes if his players compete against each other for starting positions, it will put pressure on them to improve. “Our expectation levels are a lot higher,” Gilhuly said. “I’m trying to get them used to the pressure of putting up a number every single week. We’ll have good matches, but the hardest part is making the top six and beating your teammates.” The depth on the team has grown, Gilhuly said. Five players are returning after participating at the state tournament last year. Gilhuly splits the team into groups of four, with the losing team competing against each other for the final two spots for the upcoming match. So far, Peninsula golfers have been rivaling each other for a spot on the six-man varsity lineup. Sophomore Joey McNelis qualified for state last year but didn’t play because of an illness. He said playing against his teammates in a competitive fashion will get him mentally prepared. “Last year’s problem was we got used to playing teams who weren’t that good,” he said. “It’s always good to play people who are better than you.” While competing against each other has made the team stronger, it also has a downside. If one player has a great performance but his team loses, that player can only be a spectator. However, Peninsula junior Kevin Keiter hasn’t complained since Gilhuly integrated the internal competition format. “Both times my team has won, so I’m good with it,” he said. “Hopefully we can send more players to state because of it.” While last season’s senior captain graduated, five players currently on the roster were all-Olympic League selections. Junior Chris Bean, who took McNelis’ spot as an alternate to state last year, was the only Seahawks golfer who survived the first day of the state tournament. Bean said playing internally will make a difference. “Just going into it (state), I was not prepared,” he said. “We’ve all improved and are now playing against ourselves — which is the best team.” Peninsula holds intrasquad matches on Mondays and Tuesdays each week leading up to a regular-season matchup. Seahawks senior Gary Howe Jr. said the team was unprepared at district and state last year because they faced competition they weren’t used to. “Competition is a big thing,” he said. “Our team is our best competition we will face this year in our league.” The Seahawks are led by senior co-captains Nick Fandel, who has gone to state three consecutive years, and Chad Findlay, who’s made a state appearance twice.
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