By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls golf coach Jared Goehring is stepping down after a 15-year run that included four Class 6A state championships, two runnerup finishes and three thirds while qualifying for state as a team 14 times.
Jared Goehring is stepping down as Washburn Rural's girls golf coach after leading the Junior Blues to four Class 6A state team championships and nine top-three state finishes in 15 seasons. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Goehring, who informed his Junior Blues girls team of his decision on Thursday, plans to continue as the head boys coach at Rural in the spring but cited family factors as his major reason for turning over the reins of the girls program.
Goehring's daughter, Preslee, is a freshman three-sport athlete at Rural and he said that it was hard to juggle all the schedules, particularly with volleyball in the fall.
"I missed a couple of games this year and I don't want to do that,'' Goehring said. "That definitely played a huge factor in this decision, one that I've been kicking around for the last couple of years. With Preslee being in high school now I wanted to be a part of her successes and watch her play and family's the most important thing and continuing to spend time with my immediate family and help out where I can.''
But although Goehring knew he needed to step away from his fall coaching duties, he said he still struggled with the decision .
"I did,'' Goehring said. "I was probably 80 percent certain I was going to do this a year ago and this year's senior class is kind of what ultimately made me decide to come back. Plus, I wanted to see how my daughter adapted to high school and what she fell in love with as far as activities go.
"She's definitely on the right path and we finished on a strong note this year with this senior group, so it's time for a change.''
Goehring's son, Peyton, will be a senior for the Junior Blues' boys team next spring and Jared, who led Rural to the 2015 boys state title and will be entering his 20th season, said he plans to remain in that role for the foreseeable future.
"Springtime is a little bit more relaxed and continuing on in the springtime will fit my schedule a little bit better,'' he said.
Goehring said he's really enjoyed working with the girls team and will miss it.
"I've coached a lot of great athletes and a lot of young ladies that fell in love with the game of golf and that's the No. 1 most important thing to be successful,'' Goehring said. "We have a lot of former players that still play collegiately, so it's been a hell of a ride and I couldn't thank those players enough for what they've meant to the program and the amount of memories that we've shared together.
"That just speaks volumes of their character and their families as well.''
Goehring said he feels like the future of the girls program continues to be bright and that it will be in capable hands moving forward.
"The cupboard's definitely not bare with the girls roster,'' he said. "We'll have five returning letter-winners and Kailyn Petersen coming back as a senior to lead the group, so there's definitely potential there for the immediate success of the future and there's definitely some highly qualified candidates that are there in the building that I'm sure would be interested in taking this job over.''
