Kansas City Kansas Community College

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s young golf team got exposed to the rigors of college golf in a hurry, finishing fifth in the opening Jayhawk Conference Designated Tournament Aug. 30-31.

“I would have liked to have had a little more time before qualifying but the schedule is what it is,” said Coach Gary Shrader.

With four freshmen on the five-man team, the Blue Devils finished one stroke out of fourth in the nine-team tournament. Johnson County won the event with a 588 total followed by Hutchinson, 598; Allen County, 611; Dodge City, 618; and KCKCC, 619.

“I think this is a better team than it showed but we made a lot of freshman mistakes,” said Shrader. “Qualifying was real close, all were within an average of a stroke and a half and I had to leave some good kids at home. We can only take five to the conference tournaments but we’ll take everyone to the other tournaments.”

The Blue Devils’ eight-man squad includes just two sophomores, Ben Moser of Washburn Rural in Topeka and Loga Rotha, a Goddard High graduate. Moser led the Blue Devils in the opener, finishing third in the medalist competition with rounds of 73 and 74 for a 3-over 147 on the par 72 Quail Ridge course in Winfield.

All six of the incoming freshmen are Kansas products and all have a wealth of state tournament and junior tournament experience. “This could be the best freshmen class I’ve had,” said Shrader, who is in his 10th season as head coach.

The frosh who played in the opener include Trace McDiffett, who qualified for state all four years at Rossville and finished seventh as a junior; Nate Deghand, a four-year state qualifier who earned first team All-Centennial League and second team All-City honors at Shawnee Heights in Topeka; Cole Murrin, also a four-year state qualifier who was regional champion as a sophomore and all-league first team at Fort Scott; and Luke Gordon, who finished eighth and ninth at state in his junior and senior years at Marion.

Mcdiffett finished in a tie for 12th in the opener with a 77-76-153 with Deghand tying for 26th (81-78-159), Murrin 29th (78-83-161) and Gordon 39th (86-82-168).

The other freshmen are Daniel Trout, who played on St. Thomas Aquinas’ state championship team as a junior and earned all-state honors as a junior and senior; and Jerry Chase, who was all-league and all-region four years and all-state three years at Sabetha.

“I’m excited,” said Shrader. “Once these freshmen get some experience under their belts, I think we’ll be pretty competitive".”

The Blue Devils return to action in the fall’s second Designated Tournament to be played Sept. 13-14 at Terradyne in Andover.