Golf may be an individual sport at the pro level, but in high school it’s a team sport.
For the Bishop Moore boys, that mantra goes beyond working together to win a match or tournament.
The Hornets’ top golfer, based on iWanamaker.com rankings, is sophomore Jack Mokris. He finished first in the Lakewood Ranch Invitational on Sept. 5-6 with rounds of 68 and 67, and placed third in last weekend’s Wolverines vs. the World tournament with matching rounds of 69.
But managing 18 holes on a hot Florida day for Mokris entails more than avoiding hazards and making putts.
In March 2022, as a sixth grader, he was diagnosed with Type 1 juvenile diabetes. That came after his parents, who both have medical careers, recognized the signs. His father, Patrick, is a dentist, and mother JoAnn is a licensed nurse.
“I lost some weight and was drinking like 10 bottles of water a day at school,” Jack Mokris said. “We manage it with a sensor (on the back of the arm) monitoring my blood sugar. Going low (on sugar) is one of the worst feelings imaginable. I have to take insulin every time I eat. I have to eat stuff I don’t want to eat, and I can’t eat stuff I want to eat.”
That’s what someone with Type 1 diabetes deals with day to day. When playing competitive golf is thrown into the mix, it’s not all about the hours of practice and competition.
Hornets coach Marvin Snyder described it perfectly.
“It’s a full-team effort,” he said. “It takes a team to monitor his numbers and being in constant communication, from parents to grandparents to coaches. The golf team is a family.”
Besides the normal coolers and bags of food and drinks for the golfers, the Hornets have someone in a golf cart with “Jack’s backpack,” which has extra drinks and snacks unique to his diabetes management.
“Gummies taste better, but glucose tablets work faster,” Mokris said.
“It’s a game within a game trying to play golf well, but manage my blood sugar,” he said. “You’d be amazed at how fast blood sugar goes from high to low.”
It helps to have a close-knit team that is learning to jell together with four sophomores and three juniors.
One of Mokris’ teammates just joined the team this season, but he has been Mokris’ friend for a while.
Noah Manly (left) and Jack Mokris (right) are sophomores leading the Bishop Moore boys golf team. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
Noah Manly, also a sophomore, grew up in Winter Park and toured Bishop Moore as an eighth grader but then made the move to Oklahoma as a ninth grader.
“I’ve known Jack for four to five years before we moved to Oklahoma for a year and a half,” said Manly, who finished third in the Lakewood Ranch tournament after a first-round score of 66. “I moved back and Jack and I played in the same tournament in Alabama last summer.”
Mokris returned to competitive golf before his freshman year, thanks to his older brother. Packy Mokris graduated last year and now plays for Rollins College.
Jack Mokris hadn’t played serious golf for a couple of years until he joined Packy in a summer 2024 tournament. It was that day when they decided: Let’s play this sport together.
“I guess I kind of replaced Packy as a (team) leader, but it’s more like Noah and I are co-leaders,” Jack Mokris said.
Mokris and Manly lead a young, deep squad that hopes to improve on its fourth-place finish in the Class 2A state tournament last season.
Cooper Welch, a junior, has a low 18-hole round of 74. Brody Collins, a junior, shot 72 in the Wesley Chapel Wildcat invite. Sophomore Peter Sirianni shot 76 in the Lakewood Ranch event.
“We know what the boys are capable of, we just need them to all show up on the same day,” Snyder said. “We want to be playing our best golf at the end of the season.”
Postseason play for the Hornets tees off with the 2A District tournament at Mount Dora Country Club on Oct. 28.
