Jacob Van Buren had no idea just how important the modest round of 97 he posted during Monday’s Section III East Division Qualifier at Marcellus Golf Club would prove to be.
With the race for the team title between the Warriors and OHSL Liberty division regular-season champion Skaneateles as tight as it could get, every shot counted toward the final total, which figured in the five lowest scores from each participating team.
And when Van Buren turned in that 97, the Warriors had won – by a single shot, 424-425, over the Lakers.
So began an historic two-day stretch that concluded Tuesday at Kanon Valley Country Club in Oneida, where the Westhill girls emerged as sectional Division II champions for the first time in program history and Julia Miesner qualified for next month’s state tournament at SUNY-Delhi.
In the individual boys tournament, Westhill’s Andy Vadnais tying Skaneateles’ Jake Fontana for individual medalist honors as they both shot identical totals of 75 in hot, humid conditions that wore down many of the competitors.
Nate Miesner, shooting a 76, was one shot behind the Lakers’ Jarrett McDonald, who finished alone in third place. Then Westhill moved out in front when Carter McMahon shot an 87 and Sean Dadey added an 88 to counter the 88 from Skaneateles’ third golfer, Jacob Patalino.
Then Westhill waited, seeing Skaneateles teammate Raymond Falso and Briggs Carter both shoot 93 to post that 425. Someone had to shoot a 97 – which was Van Buren’s exact number, leading to a team title.
Two Jordan-Elbridge golfers, Max Bondgren and Nick Falcone, had top-10 finishes, Bondgren tying for eighth by shooting an 84 and Falcone adding an 86 to tie for 10th.
By doing so, Bondgren and Falcone joined Vadnais, Miesner, McMahon and Dadey in advancing to the Section III state qualifier later in the week at Colgate University’s Seven Oaks course in Hamilton.
Marcellus, with a 465, finished fifth despite playing in its hometown. Solvay’s Joe Smolen shot a 91, ahead of a Mustangs group that included Nick Sonacchio, Grant Lewis and Carter Austin, each of whom shot 92. Frank Szczech added a 94. Trevor Parker added a 108, trailing Westhill’s Jake Mullen (104) and Bishop Ludden’s Matt DeAngelis (105).
On Tuesday, after heavy overnight rains soaked Kanon Valley, it was the girls turn to vie for sectional honors – and Westhill went to the top in Division II for the first time, posting 381, third overall behind Auburn (368) and New Hartford (376).
And Julia Miesner led the way. Making her way through the heavy rough and longer conditions the rains created, Miesner shot a steady 88, which put her in a tie for fifth place with Jamesville-DeWitt’s Jung-Hye Kim, the individual Onondaga High School League champion.
It took a 92 to qualify for the state tournament, and other Warriors weren’t that far away as Shannon Bunce and Dori Klein both posted rounds of 97 and Gabbi LoCurto finished with a 99. Marcellus freshman Mary Colella, who was second in the OHSL Tournament behind Kim on May 12 at Woodcrest, posted a 99 to lead her side.
The top nine golfers advanced to the state tournament, so Miesner and Kim join defending state champion Lindsay May (Auburn), who again won the individual sectional tournament with a 78, along with May’s teammate, Maggie Lesch, who finished second with an 85.
Kim’s J-D teammate, Alanna Jones, also made the state team, along with Sydney Bard (New Hartford), Katie Walsh (Baldwinsville), Olivia Evans (Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) and Nessa McKie (Cicero-North Syracuse), who beat Maggie Bonomo (Fayetteville-Manlius) in a playoff for the last state tournament spot.
