COUNTY IS WIDE OPEN FOR A DIVISION GOLF TEAMS

The county’s golf A Division teams continued their early-season seesaw fight for area supremacy on August 31 as South River rebounded from a season-opening loss to Severna Park to win on its home course at Crofton Country Club. Reigning county champion Joey Gaulin paced South River with a nine-hole score of 37 to lead the Seahawks to a team-best 158, topping Broadneck (163), Severna Park (166) and Arundel (184). The Bruins’ Trent Woodfin carded an even-par 36 as the day’s best individual score, while Severna Park senior Addison Wells was the Falcons’ best shooter with a 38. Arundel’s Carson Neiswender paced the Wildcats with a 39. Broadneck sophomores Luke Farnie and Kieran Walshe both shot 42, while senior Luke Schwartz shot a 43 and Samantha Lynchard shot a 53 as the Bruins’ top female. In addition to Wells, the Falcons received strong rounds from Matt Snowdon (41), Matt Verni (42), Pete Regala (45), Grace Appel (48) and Katrina Schultz (46). A week prior on August 23 at Compass Pointe, Verni led Severna Park with a 41, tying Gaulin and South River’s Eddie Sarrach for the day’s low individual score as Severna Park totaled a 173 to defeat South River (175) and Broadneck (175). As the first week of play as shown, the competition has grown even stiffer this fall in the A Division. A year after splitting the team county championship with South River and qualifying for the state championships for the first time in over 10 years, the Falcons hold the same belief as the Bruins, Seahawks and Wildcats: the county is there for the taking. “We’ve got some returners and some new talent coming in, and 14 kids overall compared to 12 last year,” said Falcons coach Pete Buck. “All of our matches, it’s going to be a grind. We’ve got three good [opponents]. There’s not as much room for error, but at the end of the day, the goal is to come out and win counties and then qualify as a team for states.” Bolstering Buck’s optimism is the knowledge that the Falcons have a well-rounded squad with no need to label a clear one through four. Wells concurred, saying the overall strength of the team is high this season. “We’re really confident in our team this year,” said Wells. “We have a lot of good people who can shoot well for good scores. I’m looking forward to this year, repeating what we did last year and doing even better.” Appel, Schultz and Campbell Haney are the top females for the Falcons, who will compete in several girls-only matches this year as the county is making a push to advance girls golf. The Lady Falcons participated in the county’s first-ever girls-only match on August 24 at Crofton Country Club, where South River’s Manca Teran led the field with a 37 while Appel shot a 45, Broadneck’s Lynchard shot 37 and Schultz and Haney both shot 38. Asked about the girls-only competitions this year, Appel expressed excitement and pride. “It’s so cool. I feel like a part of history,” she said. “We’re starting something new, and there’s a lot of new girls coming out who have never come out before.” She added she hopes to be in the mix in for the individual county championship in October. “Manca is definitely really good competition, and that’s good for me to have, I love to have good competition,” she said. Broadneck coach Kevin Peterson expressed similar optimism for the depth and one-through-six strength of his side, which returns seniors Woodfin, Schwartz, Nick Moore and Carter Hall in the top four spots. “They’ve all gotten a little bit better, and we’re looking to have a good finish this year,” said Peterson. “If everyone comes together and plays well, there’s no one player on the team that needs to carry us, we’ve got talent one to six, so I think as long as four of them can step up in every match, then we’ve got a good chance to win.” Buck looked forward to continual improvement over the course of the season as the team’s build toward the county championship on October 4 and District V championships on October 9. “Our team has set some goals that we look to achieve and they are going to work hard and grind every day,” he said. “It is a bonus when you have a bunch of returners that tasted success last year, and I know they want to taste it again this year.”

COUNTY IS WIDE OPEN FOR A DIVISION GOLF TEAMS

Photo Credit: Colin Murphy

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