A new, tough venue greeted top girls golfers as they competed last weekend in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Deerfield Country Club in Brockport.
And of the Section III golfers in the field, the Liverpool sister duo of Nataly and Mia Avotins fared best, with Nataly Avotins recording a top-30 finish.
It was Mia Avotins trying to move into contention during Saturday’s opening round, shooting an 82 to tie for 14th place. That was six shots better than the 88 that Nataly Avotins posted.
But in Sybdat;s final round, Mia Avotins struggled to a 97, her total of 179 leaving her in a tie for 25th place. By shooting an 89, Nataly Avotins moved up a few spots, ultimately finishing alone in 25th place at 177.
Two Cicero-North Syracuse golfers were also in the field, Abby Ainsworth posting a 99 in the first round and Amy Krohl finishing with rounds of 130 and 117.
Melanie Green, a Section VI golfer from Medina, repeated as state champion, her two-day score of 145, one over par, edging out Bailey Shoemaker (Section IV, Unadilla Valley) by one stroke.
That same morning, the boys golf NYSPHSAA tournament got underway at Cornell University’s Robert Trent Jones course in Ithaca, with Baldwinsville’s Max Dec part of a terrific effort by Section III to try and claim the team state title.
Dec shot an 83 in the opening round on Sunday, tying for 48th place, and was one under par early in his round thanks to a birdie on 12 (he teed off on hole no. 10). The entire Section III squad had rounds of 84 or lower, leaving them tied for second, 16 shots back of Section I.
Then, in Monday’s final round, Dec improved four strokes to a 79 in cold, windy conditions, never making worse than a bogey on any single hole.
Dec’s final total of 162 left him in a tie for 34th place, ahead of nearly two-thirds of the players in the 99-team field, and ultimately helped Section III to a second-place finish at 1,104 behind only Section I”s 1,058.
Somers’ Nathan Han won the individual state title going away, his rounds of 71 and 70 putting him at 141, one under par, seven strokes clear of Evan Sitts (Oneonta), Alex Kyriacou (Suffern) and Shane Devincenzo (Port Jefferson). West Genesee’s Nick Bove had the best finish among Section III golfers, tying for 10th place at 152.
