M STATE
WYATT BLOMSETH
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State sophomore golfer Wyatt Blomseth was already celebrating a MCAC/Region XIII title and was preparing to compete in the NJCAA Div. III National Tournament in June, but the ruling by NJCAA canceled spring sports and tournaments. Blomseth gives his impression of the season and the current state. : What are some of your achievements? : NJCAA Division III honorable mention all-American, finished 14th overall at nationals. : Does this season mark the end of your golf career with the Spartans or will you be going anywhere else to play golf? : I’m not 100% sure yet, I might come back for a third year because of the way my business classes might play out. So, I might come back for a third year because they gave me my year of eligibility back, so that’s kind of up in the air right now, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. : How long after the cancelation announcement did you find out that you were going to have the option to come back and compete for the Spartans for the third year? : I found out pretty much right away, (Spartans head coach) Jason Retzlaff had contacted all of us and let us know. : How did hearing the news that you were keeping a year of eligibility lessen some of this season’s disappointment? : That made a big difference, that was a huge factor, it creates the opportunity to go again in the future. : How do you feel about the Spartans men’s golf team qualifying for nationals in the fall only to reach spring sports and find out it was all for not because the season has been canceled? : We were all extremely excited because our team was starting to make some pretty significant strides and improvements, so we were all looking forward to playing and when we found out the season was over everyone got pretty bummed because we thought we were going to have a pretty good shot at win-
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ning it all. : What were your first thoughts when you heard the news? : When I initially heard it I was really upset for about a week and then it kind of set in that ‘Well, if I’m able to play a third year that might alleviate the stress.’ We were all pretty upset about it but you know there’s not really anything anyone can do about it you just have to keep moving forward because it’s the same for everybody else as well. : Thinking about spring golf what would have been your dream scenario? : To get out right away and practice on the courses as much as we could have every single day for hours on end. Hopefully, get our games fine-tuned so we could compete at the highest level possible. : You finished 14th at nationals last year and were an honorable mention all-American, what were you doing to improve from last year? : I was working on a lot of swing changes that were really starting to show a lot of progress, so my overall golf game would have improved significantly with these changes I made over the winter, it would have helped a lot. : Are you still in contact with teammates and coaches?
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: Yes, I talk to my teammates every single day and I talk to my coaches probably once a week. : How do they seem to be handling the order? : I think it hit us all pretty hard, it wasn’t a shot in the dark but it was almost a shot of reality like, ‘Whoa, we’re actually not going to get to go even though we worked so hard to get there and went through so much in the fall.’ : How has long-distance learning been going for you? : They all switched to online which was an easy transition for me because most of my classes were online anyways. So the few classes that weren’t, it was pretty easy but it is different getting used to that certain class that wasn’t online but now it is. : With everything you’ve been through this year with sports the highs and lows, the cancellation of the season, distance learning, academics, what have you taken away from this whole ordeal? : I think we just have to take it as it comes, we’ll get through it eventually it’s just a matter of time. If we can keep working on our games on our own I think we’ll be OK. We’ll get to it, we’ll get there, we just have to keep our heads up and keep focused on what we want to accomplish with it.
SPRING SPORTS JOURNAL • SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2020 | 5
