The Howard County boys golf picture features a few changes this season including a pair of former coaches returning and a switch in the sectional site to Rock Hollow in Peru.

One constant is the presence of Northwestern junior Ben-Marvin Egel, a two-time all-state player.

“I don’t think Northwestern has ever had an athlete [before Egel] become all-state freshman and sophomore years. What he has accomplished is unbelievable,” coach Randy Lindgren said. “He is light years better than any player I’ve ever had and I’ve had some great players.”

Egel had a string of impressive performances last season including a 2-under-par 70 in the Mid-Indiana Conference tournament at Wildcat Creek, an even-par 73 in the sectional at Chippendale and an even-par 72 in the regional at Battle Ground. He finished first in both the MIC and the sectional and then second, following a playoff, in the regional.

“He averaged 71.6 [over the course of the season], which is under par,” Lindgren noted. “I can’t think of anyone in Howard County who averaged below par in spring golf, when you’re playing in the worst conditions. It’s a testament to his work ethic.

“He’s just going to get better. He has verbally committed to Purdue so the pressure is off there.”

Lindgren noted Egel looked at ease during a team qualifier earlier this week.

“His clubs right now are down in Florida because he has some tournaments over spring break so he took two clubs from his house, I think a 6-iron and a wedge, and played nine holes and shot even par. He didn’t even had a putter,” Lindgren said.

The following are capsule looks at the five Howard County teams in alphabetical order. The teams all begin play following spring break.

Eastern

Senior Scott Bolinger and juniors Noel Horvath and Micah Detweiler return from the Comets’ sectional lineup. Junior Adam McKinney also saw varsity time last season.

“I’m impressed with a lot of our returners,” coach Mike Hamilton said. “They’ve picked up the slack as far as working harder. I think we didn’t work as hard last season and we’ve talked about that as a group. Their focus is a lot stronger and they’ve set some pretty high goals. Hopefully they can meet those.

“It’s awful early to tell where we’re at as far as a team, but several of them are stepping the pace up and that impresses me a lot.”

Hamilton noted Bolinger is shooting in the 41-42 range for nine holes and Horvath is in the 41-44 range, adding Horvath is tweaking a few parts of his game.

The Comets’ No. 5 position is up for grabs. Seniors Cody Sheridan and Dakota Duncan and sophomore Michael Lamb are the front-runners for the spot. Duncan played earlier in his high school career, but sat out last season.

Hamilton also has senior Max Gomez and freshmen Jake Julla and Andrew Kerner in the mix.

“I’m impressed with the kids. They’re working hard and they seem to be having good fun, and the camaraderie seems to be very strong. Where our talent takes us is where we’ll be,” Hamilton said.

Eastern opens against Peru on April 13 at Peru.

Kokomo

Jason Snyder is back for his second stint as the Wildkats’ coach.

“It’s been nice being able to get back into the program. Tory Horner took over for three seasons and did a great job with the group,” Snyder said. “We have a strong, young group this year. It’s a group of guys that you can’t get off the golf course. They want to spend time out there. They work hard to improve their games and that will really help us as the season progresses.

“With a young group, I think by the end of the season, we can really make a run at a couple of things.”

Junior Nick Cardwell and sophomore Blake Brutus anchor the Kats’ lineup. Cardwell is a two-time All-North Central Conference player.

From there, the Kats have several candidates for the three remaining positions. Senior Dominic Cognata, juniors Taylor Balog, Blake Brown, Collin Irish, Dillon Jaenicke and Drew Marshall and sophomore Zacc Truman are among the candidates in a crowded field that also includes a promising freshman class.

“We have a logjam in the middle of our scores right now. Our next seven guys [after Cardwell and Brutus] are within 2 1⁄2 strokes of each other,” Snyder noted. “It’s competitive in practice which will continue to make us stronger as the season goes on.”

Kokomo opens against Frankfort on April 19.

Northwestern

The Tigers last season reached their first regional since 2003 and they return more than just Egel — considerably more, in fact, starting with No. 2 player Drew Hansen, the team’s lone senior.

“Drew has improved tremendously from last year. He is a solid No. 2 pick,” Lindgren said. “And then we have parity [among the remaining players] which is great to see. We think we’re going to be pretty strong this year.”

Lindgren noted that beyond Egel and Hansen, six other players scored either a 42 or a 43 in Monday’s team qualifier — and two more were also in the 40s.

The Tigers’ candidates for the final three spots are juniors Curtis Bretl and Jack Florea, sophomores Tyler Barnes, Jeff Blankenberger, Kyle Condon, Zack Gabriel, Matthew Mervis and Cody Yeakel and freshmen Nathan Edwards and Tony Janes. Barnes shot a solid 87 in the sectional last season, helping the Tigers advance to the regional.

“The neat thing about these kids is they all get along well,” Lindgren said. “They’re great kids and it makes coaching fun. When you put a plan together and tell them, ‘This is what I want done,’ they do it to the T. And then when I’m leaving to go home, they’re still there thinking about what games they want to play and challenges for each other.”

Northwestern was scheduled to open today against Marion, but that match has been pushed back until after spring break.

Taylor

Seniors James Fantuzzo, John Fantuzzo and Ron Johnston and junior Josh Kappes return from the Titans’ 2009 sectional roster. James Fantuzzo shot a team-best 90, but the Titans had to settle for last place in the competitive 12-team field.

“Generally speaking, we’ve been pretty well down at the bottom of the barrel for several years,” coach Frank Conner said. “We’re not going to be in the hunt for any hardware this year, but maybe we’ll be a little more competitive and beat a few teams on our schedule and not always be last in every tournament we’re in.

“James and John are two returning kids who play the most golf so they’re obviously going to be our two leaders. I have some other seniors who’ve played for four years. Hopefully they’ll be able to help out a little bit.”

Seniors Ben Meadows and Andrew Shively and freshmen Daman Knosp and Evan Marlow join the four holdovers on the Titans’ roster.

“These kids I’ve got are really good kids,” Conner said. “We’re going to have a fun year. We’re not going to be world beaters, but we’ll have some fun and that’s what it’s all about.”

Western

Steve Hoppes is back for his second stint with Western’s boys program, which he led for a long stretch before stepping down in the late 1990s to focus strictly on the girls program. Hoppes led Western’s girls to the state championship in 2001 and runner-up finishes in 2002 and 2004.

Hoppes replaces Tom Lewis as Western’s boys coach.

“It’s fun to watch the guys play and learn. I think we’ll be competitive with most people in the area,” Hoppes said, noting Tipton, Peru and Northwestern set the standard.

Juniors Kenton Williams and Andrew Lindley return from the Panthers’ sectional roster. Williams is coming off an outstanding bowling season.

Others in the mix for playing time are senior Michael Kelley, juniors Casey Cyr, Benji Fountain and Nick Newlin and sophomore Ben Constable.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know who’s going to play one through six,” Hoppes said. “We could just throw the names in a hat this year. They’re all pretty equal.”

Western opens against Maconaquah on April 15 at Peru Municipal.