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Saranac Lake reloads with new head coach

Front row: Billy Bentz. Second row, from left: Raymond Amell, Zach Gladd, Ryan Gallagher, Kyah Kinsman and Carson Ryan. Back row, from left: Coach Tim Munn, Sam Branch, Zach Churco, Will McClure, Connor O’Brien, Wyatt Martin and head coach Ian Breen. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

SARANAC LAKE — A new head coach, some new faces and some returning veterans.

The Saranac Lake golf team enters the season with all three as it looks to turn in a competitive season ­in the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference.

With Ian Breen taking on the job as head coach, the Red Storm enter the season with eight golfers back from last year’s team and three members joining the squad for the first time.

Saranac Lake will look to fill the shoes of three seniors who graduated from last year’s team that posted a 7-3 record, including Tanner Courcelle, who represented the Red Storm at Cornell last June as a member of the Section VII team at the state championship tournament. The graduation of Kyler Darrah and Gunnar Cross will open up two more spots in the top six for the Red Storm.

Ray Amell returns as a junior and had the most success in 2017 among the golfers back this spring. A year ago, he was the lone underclassman who advanced to the second round of the Section VII championship tournament and should be vying for the top spot in the Red Storm’s lineup. Zach Gladd is also back as a junior after playing in the top six a season ago, and senior Billy Bentz is a third Red Storm team member entering this spring with match experience.

Senior Connor O’Brien, juniors Will McClure and Sam Branch, sophomore Zach Churco and eighth-grader Carson Ryan round out the list of Saranac Lake’s returners who will be vying for match playing time. They’ll be joined by newcomers Wyatt Martin, Ryan Gallagher and Kyah Kinsman.

The Red Storm should be in good shape with Breen at the helm as a teacher of the game. A 1990 Saranac Lake High School graduate and member of the school’s athletic hall of fame, Breen has been a PGA pro working in the Capital District for the past two decades.

Breen said he’ll learn about the players as the season gets going, and added that once the team gets outside and on the course, Saranac Lake’s top six can ultimately be decided in qualifying rounds.

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