It’s hard to imagine there’s a high school sports team in the state younger than the Morgan Academy varsity golf team, but the Senators are holding their own on the golf course.

The youthful Senators were one of 11 schools that participated in Thursday’s Morgan Academy Invitational at the Selma Country Club and for the most part they held their own. Jones Free, who shot 84, was the lowest scoring Senators player. He finished 11 shots behind Pike Liberal Arts’ Ryan Alexander, who won the individual portion of the invitational.

“They’ve come a long ways,” said Morgan Academy head coach Ira Wagoner of his team. “I don’t have to check after them any more. I just turn them lose and let them play.”

Lee-Scott brought two teams to the competition and swept the top spots of the invitational. Lee-Scott’s “A-team” shot 309 to win the team tournament and the “B-team” totaled 323.

“They didn’t play as well as they usually do but they still beat everybody else that way,” Wagoner said. “They’re that good.”

For the Senators, tournaments like Thursday’s are all about soaking up experience. Sam Brackin and Allen Todd are ninth graders and Greyson Harvill is in tenth grade.

Jackson Pearce and Tyler Smith are eighth graders, Haysten Levins, who didn’t play Thursday, is a seventh grader and Free is in sixth grade.

Last year the entire team was made up of experienced seniors with a lot of rounds of golf in their rear view mirrors. When they graduated, the Senators’ roster saw a youth movement unlike any Wagoner has seen during his four years coaching the team.

Wagoner said before the first tournament of the year many of his players didn’t know how to fill out a scorecard.

“A lot of these guys the first tournament they played in was this year,” Wagoner said. “They had never played in a golf match before. You have to handle them a little differently. We are never disappointed in what we do. Our expectations aren’t as high as some other teams right now. We’re just happy with what we do, and we’re proud of them. We look forward to the future.”

Brackin and Todd became the fourth and fifth Senators’ players to qualify for the individual portion of the Alabama Independent School Association state tournament coming up April 25-26 at Troy Country Club.

They joined Free, Colvin and Pearce as others that had already qualified prior to Thursday’s tournament.

“We’re taking an elementary and junior high team to the state tournament against senior high students, so we are very proud of them,” Wagoner said.

The team has three tournaments left before taking part in the state tournament.