SYRACUSE – All that the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool boys golf teams had worked for during the 2023 season led to Wednesday’s Salt City Athletic Conference championships at Drumlins Country Club’s East Course.
Vying for both National division honors and spots in next May’s Section III state qualifier, C-NS Blue and Liverpool both had strong showings, the Northstars finishing third and the Warriors taking fourth place.
In the team competition, West Genesee Gold won with 409, placing six golfers in the top 15, while Fayetteville-Manlius Green was second with 421.
C-NS Blue finished third at 432, while Liverpool, managing a 454, finished one shot better than defending champion Baldwinsville, who had 455.
Individually, it was Drew Kippen leading the Northstars, battling firm, fast conditions, slick greens and tough hole locations at Drumlins East to post an 81, tying WG Gold’s Jack Einlich for third as the Wildcats’ Ben Glass (78) edged F-M Green’s Tyler Burns (79) for medalist honors.
David Schmidt, tying for ninth place with an 84, reached the state qualifier, as did Kaeden Hacker, who had an 86 and made it on the number after missing out by a single stroke in 2022.
Also shooting an 86 was Liverpool’s Brady Michaud, posting his team’s low round. Owen Salanger tied for 22nd with a 90, while Dom Osbeck had a 92 and 93s were shot by Owen Michaud and Nate Benjamin. Trailing them were Warriors golfers Nick Scholz (98), Alex Kirkby (100), Jake Berthoff (102), Joe Gravante (116), Steve Puccia (121) and Evan Haskins (139).
Nate Bustin put up an 89 and shared 20th place for the Northstars, just ahead of Andrew Matyasik’s 92 as Cooper Stimson finished with a 97 and Quinn Empey added a 102 and Luke Deinhart a 106. C-NS Green had 119s shot by Blake Wise and Jadien Gunnip.
Liverpool had made a late-season surge capped by last Monday’s 185-213 win over Baldwinsville White at Foxfire where Osbeck and Owen Michaud both broke par.
Osbeck’s 33 set a new season mark and Michaud was right behind with a 34. Helping out, Scholz and Berthoff both finished with 39s and Evan Haskins finished with a 40.
This came as C-NS Blue beat C-NS Green 190-232 last Monday at Greens at Beaumont. Kippen’s 35 was three ahead of Empey’s 38 as 39s were put up by Schmidt, Stimson and Deinhart.
Leading the way for C-NS Green, Brody Snyder had a 44. That was the only score close to what C-NS managed as Andrew Dolson, Evan Jones and Brian Saloski each finished with 49.
