No one else in Section III Class AA boys golf could claim the kind of depth that West Genesee possessed on its roster during its 2014 season.
And that depth was on display during Wednesday’s Class AA sectional tournament at the Links at Sunset Ridge, where the Wildcats would have seven players make it out of this round and advance to the sectional state qualifier in May at Colgate University’s Seven Oaks course in Hamilton.
At the same time, though, WG could only manage a fourth-place finish in the team portion of the sectional tournament, its score of 418 just behind Auburn (414) and Cicero-North Syracuse Blue (416). Fayetteville-Manlius, with a total of 406, repeated its sectional team title from 2013.
Everyone in the 134-player field had to deal with the season’s toughest conditions. Instead of sunshine and warm temperatures, as was the case through most of the fall, they were greeted with winds that gusted past 25 miles per hour, plus an afternoon rain shower. Those winds blew falling leaves on Sunset Ridge’s greens, adding to the difficulty.
The Wildcats dealt with all this quite well. At the forefront, again, was Sean Stanistreet, who posted a seven-over-par 79 that put him in a tie for fifth place.
Right behind him, Dylan Plis put up an 80 and shared 10th place, with Shamus Hickey and Chad Terry each finishing with an 81 that helped him reach a tie for 15th place.
Adding to the Wildcats’ total of sectional state qualifiers, Matt Scicchitano and Mike Scherer both would finish with rounds of 82, with Ethan Smith settling in to shoot an 83.
It took an 85 or lower to reach the top 34 and ties that advanced to Seven Oaks. Patrick Ciarla and Joe Morgan just missed that total, each finishing with an 88, with Dean Matthews posting a 94. Shawn Picciottt earned a 98.
No one would break Sunset Ridge’s par of 72, though CBA’s Jack Bellardini came close, making four birdies and nothing worse than a bogey on his way to a 73, which gave him individual honors by four shots over F-M’s Andrew Massa and Auburn’s Trevor Hogan.
