On both the boys and girls fronts, the Skaneateles golf teams found plenty of reason to fell proud early last week as the regular season wound down and the post-season got underway.
For the boys Lakers, it meant winning the Onondaga High School League Liberty division regular-season championship, a share of which was sealed last Tuesday with a tough 218-220 victory over last year’s champion, Westhill, right on the Warriors’ home grounds at Camillus Country Club.
The steady effort included a nine-hole score of 40 from Jacob Patalino and a 42 from Nick Palma, which trailed Westhill star Nate Meisner (36), but beat the Warriors’ second golfer, Andy Vadnais, who had a 43.
To win the outright league title, Skaneateles still had to go to Millstone to beat Jordan-Elbridge on a cold Wednesday afternoon, and it did so, topping the Eagles 207-221 to finish 9-1, one game ahead of Cazenovia (8-2) in the final standings.
Patalino shot a 38, the same as J-E’s Nick Falcone, but again the Lakers’ depth made the difference. Carter Stregiel posted a 40, one of his best rounds of the season, with Jake Fontana also earning a 40. Eli Goodell finished with a 44 and Raymond Falso added a 45.
Meanwhile, the Skaneateles girls team went to Woodcrest Golf Club in Chittenango for its Onondaga High School League tournament, and finished fourth in the nine-team field with a total of 412. CBA (367) edged Jamesville-DeWitt (375) for the top spot, with Westhill (401) in third place.
Grace Magee, as she had done all season, led the Lakers’ charge, as the senior shot a back-nine 43 to recover from a front-nine 50.
With a 93, Magee finished alone in seventh place, but just six shots back of runner-up Mary Colella (Marcellus), who had an 87 and, like everyone else, could not catch J-D’s Jung-Hye Kim, who won with an 82 in tough, windy conditions.
Three of Magee’s teammates finished within the top 25. Freshman Jill Barker was alone in 16th place, posting a 102, while two other ninth-graders, Jenna Fields and Addison Gremli, were close behind, Fields shooting a 107 to tie for 21st and Gremli getting a 110 to finish alone in 25th place.
