The disparities between the golf programs at Bend High are striking.

One team is rife with seasoned upperclassmen and is guided by a longtime coach; the other is rich with youth and is led by a coach in his first year.

The similarities between the two squads are just as impressive.

One program has placed second at the Class 5A state championships three times since 2012; the other has been state runner-up three times since 2013. Each group is due for a state title, as one is four years removed from its last championship; the other, 10.

Despite the differences, and because of the similar standards, the Bend girls and boys golf teams enter the season with a common goal: another run at a state championship.

The Lava Bears boast one of the most experienced girls teams in Central Oregon — and arguably the deepest.

Four players return for Bend after helping the Lava Bears take fourth at state last season. Though they will be without senior Ascha Kelleher, who tore an ACL during the offseason, the Lava Bears boast three seniors — Kaylie Hayes, Megan McCleary and Grace West — and junior Virginia Felder.

“Before Ascha got hurt, I really thought we had an excellent chance of coming back and defending the district championship and possibly making a run at the state championship,” says ninth-year Bend coach Lowell Norby. “Ascha leaves some pretty big shoes to fill, and I feel horrible for her because she’s such a great kid. But I really like the three seniors we have coming back. They’re great girls. They’re great leaders. They work hard. They played golf all summer last year. They’ve had private lessons and traveled south to play golf during the winter.

“They’ve done the right things to put themselves in a position to have success.”

McCleary is a three-time state competitor for Bend whose best showing was an 11th-place finish last season. Hayes was seventh at state last year, West took 16th, and Felder looks to improve on a 26th-place finish.

“We don’t have anyone that’s going to be putting low 70s up,” Norby says. “But I think we have four or five girls that can play in the 80s and get there consistently. At the 5A level, that’s a pretty good number. It’s by far the deepest team we’ve had as far as me being the head coach.”

Norby cites Bend’s season-opening tournament as a gauge for the potential of this year’s group. The coach says a few of his Bend teams have scored in the 340s at a tourney; at the CRR Ice Breaker at Crooked River Ranch on March 14, the Lava Bears posted a 349.

Yet Norby notes that the golf season comes down to four days: two at districts, two at state. Last season, he says, Bend enjoyed a solid two days to claim the district championship but followed with “two very average, mediocre days” that resulted in a fourth-place finish at state. Fueled by the memory of that final tournament, Norby says, the returning players attacked the offseason with vigor. And they are determined to capture the program’s first state title since 2008.

“I think they felt robbed,” Norby says. “We have known for a long time that we’re a team of depth and not necessarily all-stars. It’s going to take all of us, as a team, to put the number up to be successful as a team. I love that about this group. They’ve always embraced that and supported each other. … I think these girls are pretty determined.”

While the Bend girls have championship-level experience on their side, the boys team is young and under a new head coach for the first time since 2001.

Bend High alumnus Louis Bennett, the girls coach at Summit the past two years, takes over the Lava Bears boys for Rusty Clemons, who retired last year after 17 seasons. Under Clemons, the Lava Bears recorded the program’s best-ever finishes at state: second place five times since 2003, and its lone state championship in 2014.

Now Bennett, a 2003 grad who played for Clemons, looks to carry on what Clemons helped build.

“I told everybody at the beginning of the season … that it would be my intention to keep everything as much the same as it was,” Bennett says. “But the reality is we have four freshmen, a transfer sophomore, I’m new. We’re all going to be able to put our own little touch on this program.”

Back for the Bears are seniors Tyler Hein and Teddy Charlton, who placed 36th and 40th, respectively, at districts last season. Bend could get significant contributions from freshmen Parker Korvisky and Jack McCleary as well as sophomore Tyler Floyd. In just two tourneys this season, those three underclassmen have shown they can swing it with the best of them. And that leads Bennett to believe that Bend could be a contender come the district and state tournaments.

“I look at these guys, and they’re already shooting low- to mid-80s or upper-80s,” Bennett says. “I was able to cut 20 strokes off my first varsity tournament to state (the same year). They have a chance to be really, really special as very, very young players. … They have a ton of room for improvement. I definitely think we can make some noise. Obviously being young, the future is really bright.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0307, glucas@bendbulletin.com