The Mt. Hope High School golf program continues its steady climb back into sustainability as the 2025 regular season begins.

The Huskies, who call nearby Swansea Country Club as their home course, hit a nadir a few years ago when they didn't actually field a full team. A couple of springs later, however, the roster now numbers some 20 student-athletes interested in participating in the sport.

The top of the lineup for Mt. Hope, which competes one of if not the state's most competitive groups annually, the Eastern Division, is composed of upperclassmen. Seniors Lucas Andreozzi, Ethan Martel and Quinn Frawley along with juniors Ben Peters, Luke Domina and Jackson Howland are likely to begin the season in the six playing positions. Another junior, Brendan McLaughlin is also in the mix as are classmate Mason Kachapis and senior Brennan Perry. And among the youngsters potentially pushing for time is freshman Eli Francis.

MHHS Assistant Principal Wayne Lima is the head coach, assisted by Nolan Ross, who coaches the girls' tennis team in the fall. Former Husky standout Alexis Annarummo also serves as a volunteer aide.

"We're just excited. Nolan and I are excited because he was with me the first year that we started the program back when we had only like seven kids. And now we've tripled that," Lima said of how far the program has come in the last three springs since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lima said the playing order isn't necessarily set in stone. He wants his golfers to not just compete in matches, but in practices as well to hone and improve their skills throughout the season.

"Our thought is to create internal competition every single solitary day that they come out here. That's what's going to make them better," Lima explained. "It's nice having two coaches because Coach Ross goes out and he's really focusing on the short game. And so when we're putting, we're marking the ball. He's making sure they're lining it up. There's no just walking up and slapping the thing in. We're not we're not doing that anymore."

He continued, "Our philosophy is learning how to play the game and get good from the greens back. And so when we come out here now, we're just saying, okay, you hit the fairway. Great, nice job. Now, what can you do from this 170 yards in? So, that's what our big focus is."

Lima said he's already issued a target for the team to shoot a combined score of 160 strokes or lower during a matches throughout the year.

"That's our first goal. Let's break 160," Lima explained. "We started putting all these goals up last year. I kept doing the same thing, and they kept beating them. And they were like coach, 'what are we gonna get if we beat this one?' And I said I'll get you guys all ice cream if you get this one and sure enough, they went out the first time I opened my mouth and did that one. They went out and beat it by like eight strokes. And I was like whatever you guys want. You beat me, so let's do it. And so that's what our focus is, that internal competition."

The external competition in the Eastern Division is also now coming into focus. Perennial title contender and the state's all-time winningest program Barrington traditionally leads the group. Portsmouth and East Providence are annually strong as well. The Huskies, themselves, are coming off their best spring in quite some time, having posted an 8-6 record a year ago.

Providence Country Day School is new in 2025 to the Eastern ranks, which also includes Tiverton, Middletown, Rogers and St. Mary Academy-Bay View.

"We've got more teams now because PCD is in the mix. I went through our schedule the other day. We have16 matches, and my ultimate goal was around 10 wins. That's kind of the number that I'm thinking," Lima said of his expectations for the Huskies during the regular season.

As for the postseason, a few years ago the Rhode Island Interscholastic League instituted a state-wide scoring average standard for teams and individuals to qualify for the championships events at the end of the year, the week of Memorial Day at Cranston Country Club.

Initially, the top 10 teams by scoring average, regardless of where they placed in the five divisions during matches during the season, qualified for the state tournament. This year that's been tweaked a bit. This year, the first-place sides in each group by wins and losses earns a spot into states and the next seven teams with the best scoring average will also qualify for states. Individuals will continue to qualify as well based on their strokes average.

Mt. Hope started its 2025 Eastern Division regular season on a brisk, overcast afternoon Monday, April 21, at Rhode Island Country Club with a split against host Barrington with Rogers.

The Eagles carded a 158 team total over their home layout to sweep the match. The Huskies split after carding a 174 with a rebuilding group of Vikings shooting 281.

Barrington's Claire McTaggart and Rocco Dimatteo shared medalist honors, each finishing with 1-over, 37 scores over RICC's front nine.

Quinn Frawley was the low local at 5-over, 41. Ben Peters carded a 42, Luke Domina a 45 and Jackson Howland the fourth counting score of 46.