Juggling two sports is a difficult chore in high school, and it is even more difficult when one of those sports is golf.
It’s not easy to stay away from the course and driving range, then jump back into the fray and be successful. It takes a special athlete to do that and Rogers High golf coach Marcus Alexander has two such athletes on the roster.
Seniors Grant Washburn and Jake Rylee are two of the best golfers that Alexander puts out on the course as Rogers guns for its third-straight 7A-West Conference Tournament championship.
But golf isn’t the only sport at which two seniors excel.
As juniors last year, Rylee was the Mounties’ starting catcher on the baseball team and Washburn was a key reserve for the basketball team. Rogers basketball coach Marty Barnes is expecting Washburn to crack the starting five this season.
“They are both so athletic,” Alexander said. “Golf takes a lot of time to get good at and it isn’t easy to take a lot of time off. But they are both so athletic that they can pick it right up.”
Rogers has opened the season with two victories, winning the Springdale Invitational and besting Fayetteville in a dual match. And in both matches, Washburn and Rylee were key to the Mounties’ victories.
Washburn was the Mounties’ top finisher at the Springdale Invitational with a 5-over 77 and he won medalist honors with a 3-over 75 against Fayetteville. Rylee fired a 79 against the Bulldogs.
“Those two guys are so competitive,” Alexander said. “They have been quick to pick it back up.”
Washburn worked on both sports over the summer and said juggling offseason basketball while preparing for golf season wasn’t that difficult.
“You can’t take the summer off and be ready for basketball,” Washburn said. “If you want to play basketball in the 7A-West and compete for a conference championship, you have to keep practicing. So, I just kept practicing both sports and tried to play as much golf as I could.”
Rylee also played summer baseball and that kept the senior from competing in golf tournaments. But that didn’t mean his bag stayed in the garage.
“It takes a little more time to get caught up and be ready for tournaments, but I came out and played golf a lot of mornings,” Rylee said. “I always found time to work on my game.”
Washburn averaged about five minutes a game last year but Mounties basketball coach Marty Barnes said Washburn should crack into the starting five.
“Grant had a great spring and summer for us,” Barnes said. “Last year, his role was to be a role player off the bench and be able to play a variety of positions. This year, my expectations of Grant are to be a starter at the No. 3 spot and be able to score outside and inside. We are looking for him to average six, eight points per game.”
Rylee said he likes baseball a little bit better and Mounties baseball coach Matt Melson said Rylee has a bright future in the sport.
“Jake was one of the top juniors in our conference this past season,” Melson said. “He is extremely self-motivated and always has a knack of coming up with big hits or plays in key situations.”