Sussex Academy teeing off with confidence in 2026
Sussex Academy golf came six strokes shy of a Henlopen Conference title last season with a strong senior class, but the 2026 squad thinks they can fill in and possibly win the conference.
“We have three, four kids that can consistently shoot in the 30s,” coach Keith Kendzierski said. “If you have that, then you're competing for a title.”
Kendzierski is at the helm for the Seahawks after coaching Milford for the last few years, and he is optimistic he could have five or six golfers qualify for states this season. The team features a few multi-sport athletes, something the first-year coach thinks helps the athlete in their sports.
“One sport helps set up for the next sport,” Kendzierski said. “You're working muscles that you didn't even think you had from one sport to another.”
Senior Sarah Lester-Stranick will be straddling tennis in addition to golf this spring and is looking forward to the challenge.
“I'm looking forward to hopefully making some improvements to my game and, overall, having fun,” Lester-Stranick said. “Given that it's my senior year, hopefully making it to the states.”
Her classmate, Jack Dale, is hoping the weather plays in the Seahawks favor all spring so he can do his favorite thing.
“Just get out and play every day,” Dale said.
Sussex Academy takes on Milford at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 24 at Southern Delaware Golf Club to open the season.
Aaron Mushrush joined the sports team in Summer 2023 to help cover the emerging youth athletics scene in the Cape Region. After lettering in soccer and lacrosse at Sussex Tech, he played lacrosse at Division III Eastern University in St. David's, PA. Aaron coached lacrosse at Sussex Tech in 2009 and 2011. Post-collegiately, Mush played in the Eastern Shore Summer Lacrosse League for Blue Bird Tavern and Saltwater Lacrosse. He competed in several tournaments for the Shamrocks Lacrosse Club, which blossomed into the Maryland Lacrosse League (MDLL). Aaron interned at the Coastal Point before becoming assistant director at WMDT-TV 47 ABC in 2017 and eventually assignment editor in 2018.
