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Boys golf takes fourth place at Solon invite
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · April 13, 2017
In a wide open field, West Branch finished fourth at the Solon Invitational Friday at Lake McBride.
The home team, the Spartans, and second-place Central-DeWitt, both 3A schools, took first and second place with 306 and 308, respectively.
Wilton finished third with 354, first among the Class 2A schools, and West Branch finished six strokes behind them with 360, second for 2A. Tipton had 362, Durant had 368, Regina shot 381 and West Liberty had 403 among the eight teams.
“To be perfectly honest, I said to Coach (Jason) Miller that if we were to shoot 360 today, I’d be OK with that,” Head Bears Coach Randy Sexton said.
The 18-hole tournament meant playing two rounds on the nine-hole course. The teams counted the four best scores in each round to determine the 18-hole score.
The boys golf team shot 181 on the first round, then improved by two strokes for 179 in the second round.
Ted Bridges shot 43-43 86 and Brady Lukavsky shot 42-44 86 as they led the team in the overall score. Trevor Thein shot 47-44 91, Evan O’Neil shot 50-48 98, Mitchell Knoop shot 49-51 100 and Cade Aspelmeier shot 53-51 104.
“We shot about what I thought we might shoot,” Sexton said, though the players each told stories of how they could have cut their scores down. “It sounded like we could have played much better. We’re competitive.”
Lukavsky, a sophomore, shot two birdies on the first round toward his team-low 42 for those nine holes. One came on hole No. 3, which has a par-3, and the second on hole No. 9, a par-4.
“Brady, like all of the boys off to a great season, last summer played a lot of golf,” the coach said. “He will be scoring for us for a couple of years now and I’m happy for him.”
Sexton pointed out that Lukavsky “doubled” on a couple of holes and wants to build more consistency.
“He’s never satisfied,” Sexton said.
Bridges shot a birdie on hole No. 6, a par-3. Sexton said he was glad to see the two lead so well.
“We need to be getting those 18s down a little bit,” the coach added.
Players who had played Lake McBride in the past said the greens played “extremely fast,” the coach said, and had to adapt.
Despite a few wet spots left by prior rains, “the course was in very good shape,” Sexton said.
“It was beautiful,” he said. “The fairways were nice and cut.”
Sexton joked that the sunny, warming weather may have thrown off his players.
“It was a decent day to play golf,” he said, noting no one needed to wear jackets. “That was probably the biggest shock.”
Three weeks into the season, the Top Six golfers are far from established, the coach said, and he will continue to move players in and out depending on the strength of their scores.
“We’ve still got a lot of golf to play in regards to that,” he said.
He noted that Matt Whaley bumped up to varsity once this season and would do so again this past Monday at Cedar Valley Golf Course as the Bears hosted Durant.
“No job is secure,” he said of the varsity positions. “We’re still knocking on the door ... and we need to keep performing our very best. (The Top Six) is not set by any means.”
He was glad to see many of the players follow Solon’s tournament by playing two rounds each at Cedars Edge.
“They want to get better,” he said.
Cedar Valley
West Branch hosted Durant at Cedar Valley Golf Course, “The Badlands,” defeating the visitors 185-201.
Matt Whaley medaled with 45 and Brady Lukavsky and Trevor Thein tied as runner-up medalists with 46. Ted Bridges contributed to the varsity score with 48.
Mitchell Knoop shot 58 and Cade Aspelmeier shot 52 to round out the top six.
Junior varsity Bears also defeated Durant, with a score of 209-239.
Individual scores: Evan O’Neil 48, Jack Robertson 41, Cale Donovan 61, Kristian Nalan 60, Bryce Simpson 70, Zach Linn 72, Matt Paulsen 63, Ben Colbert 62, Jackson Taylor 73, Barrett Walsh 74, Nick Schreiber 61, BenTisinger 60.
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