Two returning letterwinners lead charge for Pines varsity golf team

The Northland Pines varsity golf team will have juniors Sam Shrock and Collin Reynolds lead the pack as the two returning varsity players after graduating four seniors from last year’s team. It is a rebuilding effort for Head Coach Jeff Libby, but in a sense, it has a similar feel to what the team was like a few years ago.

After having five players with multiple years of varsity experience last season to mold the team, that same team that was nine strokes from advancing to the state tournament looked very similar two seasons ago to what the Eagles have coming into the 2026 season. A few top-scoring players will anchor the team, which allows the other three spots to gain valuable varsity experience before they’re off and running next season with more stable expectations.

Shrock and Reynolds are the anchors for Northland Pines this year. Shrock has two years of varsity experience after stepping right in as a freshman and shooting competitive scores. Last year, he was shooting at a consistent clip in the 70s and was one of the two top scorers on the team.

“Sam came in as a freshman and was at the top of our scores right away. Then his sophomore year last year, he kind of traded first and second with Ryder Will,” said Libby. “They scored pretty similarly with each other, regular scores in the 70s, and that’s what our expectations were. Collin was just outside of that varsity team last year. We actually had four seniors and Sam. Collin was just on that cusp. He was shooting in the mid-80s, and so then this year there is a clear definition between the top of varsity and the whole meat of the team. Sam should be one of the elite players in our conference, and Collin should play right with the meat of all the rest of the varsity players.”

Shrock has a real shot at advancing to the state tournament as an individual if the team does not do so together, according to Libby, based on his consistent scoring the last two years.

Libby said after those two, there will likely be four other players competing for time in the other three spots on the varsity roster. Juniors Easton Otto, Eli Repenshek, and Cadmen Libby, and sophomore Garrett Byrns are all averaging scores in the 90s and are trying to break into the 80s.

“Eli put a lot of work in over the summer. Camden has improved a lot, and Easton, I don’t know how much he’s played, but he’s got a lot of natural talent,” explained Libby.

It will be a nice touch for the team to grow together into next season.

“All those guys will get a lot out of this season, and then they all return next year,” said Libby.

With a large rotation of players vying for varsity spots, Libby will play Shrock and Reynolds in all the varsity meets and rotate the final three spots throughout four meets. Scores are ultimately what settle how Libby forms the roster, as he holds player scores and averages them out for everyone on the team.

“At the end of that four-meet rotation, I’ll have scores to settle the team for the second half of the season,” stated Libby.

The Great Northern Conference looks to be led once again by the T-Birds of Lakeland Union. Libby hopes Shrock will end up being top-five in most, if not all, of the GNC meets this season, which will help with placement.

He also said Reynolds could get rolling at the right time as well.

“My hope would be to place fourth, anywhere between,” he said.

Northland Pines was supposed to start the season earlier this week at an invite in Marshfield, but that was postponed to a later date. The Eagles will then be in a two-day event in the Dells this upcoming Thursday and Friday, April 16-17.