A championship season for the Baldwinsville boys golf team that started late last summer and peaked in the fall had to wait until late spring to reach its conclusion.
It came when Maxwell Dec and Ben Donohue made their way to Cornell University’s Robert Trent Jones course in Ithaca to take part in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, and Dec would contend.
Expecting thunderstorms, the 99-player field had a shotgun start for Sunday’s opening round. It didn’t get electric, but it rained a lot, and no one broke par in the soggy conditions.
Teeing off on 10, Dec parred his first three holes, turned in 40, and then played quite well on the front line, a two-over-par 37 that included a birdie on 6 and a total of 77 that left him tops among the nine Section III golfers, just five shots off the lead with a round to play.
As for Donohue, he started on 12 and got to one under par with a birdie on 14. He was still even par before a quartet of double bogeys on his last 12 holes turned a promising round into an 82, though there was still time to catch up.
The final round on Monday did not have as much precipitation, but Dec still would have his struggles, unable to make a birdie during an 83 that put him with a finishing total of 160 and a tie for 35th place, just ahead of Donohue, whose shot a second consecutive 82 and, like Dec, was held without a birdie.
West Genesee’s Dylan Plis led the Section III contingent, tying for 13th place at 154, fared better. Two others, Manlius-Pebble Hill’s Johnny Gruninger and Cazenovia’s Cody Thorp, shared 25th place at 158, with Thorp’s 72 tying for the third-lowest score of the final round.
Donohue was one shot behind Cooperstown’s Teddy Trossett and New Hartford’s Jack Angelucci, who finished at 163. Matt Barton (Thousand Islands) finished at 166 as West Genesee’s Joe Morgan had to withdraw following the first round.
Nathan Han, from Somers, won the state title by defeating Manhasset’s Adam Xiao in a three-hole playoff after both finished at four-over-par 148. Section III finished seventh in the team standings as Section V prevailed in that part of the competition.