VERSAILLES – It wasn’t the day Arcanum had hoped for, but the Trojans still played well enough to finish fourth as a team in the Cross County Conference golf tournament on Thursday at Stillwater Valley Golf Course.
Having just missed on winning the league title last season, Coach Todd Shannon and his young squad had high hopes of making that next step toward a league championship, but it just wasn’t meant to be as the Trojans shot a team score of 376 to finishing behind league champion Tri-County North (346), runner-up Miami East (364) and Newton (369) in third place.
“It was a rough day…very rough,” Shannon said. “We just got into a lot of trouble today. We played better earlier in the season instead of late and it should be reversed.
“The course was in good condition and our guys know it well,” he continued. “We lost by one shot to Newton last year, so we were hoping to flip that around this time. It just didn’t happen today. Those days pop up once in a while. The pressure of that may have gotten to them, but they definitely played out of their element today.”
Despite not achieving the league title they had been striving for, several individual Trojan golfers fared well in the individual rankings. Carter Gray carded a 90 and Cade Brubaker shot 92 to finish in the top 10 for the tournament.
“It was pretty tough out there,” said Gray, a junior who ended up finishing eighth overall in the final individual standings for the entire season. “I couldn’thit my 4-iron or my wedges today. And the greens were the fastest I’ve ever seen. I had hoped to get a few shots back but I just couldn’t quite pick it up.
“But we’re already thinking about next year and hopefully we’ll have a better outcome,” he added.
Gray was a district qualifier as an individual last season, but this year he really wants his team to advance in the postseason.
“We just have to stay focused if we want to accomplish what we talked about at the beginning of the season,” Gray said.
Brubaker also finished sixth overall in the final conference individual standings. The only other local golfer to place in the final top 10 was Tri-Village’s Gage Hileman. He was ninth overall after shooting a 97 on Thursday. The Patriots finished right behind the Trojans in fifth place in the tournament’s team standings with a 386.
Teams 6-13 in the tournament standings were as follows: Covington (409), Twin Valley South (410), Bradford (433), Ansonia (435), Franklin-Monroe (453), Mississinawa Valley and Bethel (478) and National Trail (483).
Individually for Arcanum, after Gray and Brubaker came Kendall Wright (96), Trevor Bailey (98), Evan Atchley (101) and Jack Shannon (106).
For Tri-Village, Dylan Holsapple and Aiden Collins each shot 95 followed by Hileman (97), Brenden Durst (99), Josh Sims (109) and Noah Hill (138).
For Bradford, Keaton Mead shot 96 followed by Taven Leach (111), Eric Sanders (111), Joey Brussel (115), Connor Jones (123) and Brayden Sanders (129).
For Ansonia, Trevor Martin shot a 103 followed by Johnnie Bozarth (106), Dalton Drees (112), Tyler Sink (114), Connor Stachler (130) and Mitchell Shook (140).
For Franklin-Monroe, Jacob Aslinger and Dalton Goubeaux each carded 111s to lead the Jets. Simon Mote (112), Bradley Rumble (119), Andre Stephens (154) and Chase Osterday (156) also competed.
For Mississinawa Valley, Zac Longfellow marked a 112 followed by Justin Miller (113), Dalton Brim (122), Kaiden Stewart (131), Mason Hardwick (134) and Mattie Hiestand (158).
In the girls tournament, Arcanum was again fourth in the team standings with a 451 coming in behind league champion Fort Loramie (409), runner-up National Trail (410) and Miami East (427) in third place. After Arcanum came Franklin-Monroe (453) in fifth place, Bethel (473) in sixth, Covington (485) in seventh and Tri-Village (500) in eighth.
Arcanum senior Lexi Unger was the highest-placing local golfer after shooting a 98, a score she said she wasn’t too proud of.
“I could have done better,” the Arcanum senior said. “The heat kind of got to me and then I had a bad hole and I lost my head.”
Unger said she was doing well until she got to her seventh hole of the tournament. That’s when things changed.
“I just wasn’t making solid contact and I couldn’t get back on track until my last three holes,” Unger said. “I’m disappointed right now, but I just have to let it go. I’ll take a couple days off from golf and then get ready for sectionals next week.”
Unger was a district qualifier as an individual last season and she went with her team two years ago. This being her final go-round she’d like to make it to district one more time.
“I didn’t finish my last CCC tournament too well, so I’d like to get to districts again,” said Unger, who would like to play golf in college but hasn’t made a decision yet.
After Unger, the Trojans had individual scores from Mady Wogoman (115), Madison Mankin (117), Elliana Sloan (121), Sydney Artz (135) and Araya Musselman (136).
For Franklin-Monroe, Bre Lavy led the Jets with a 103. She was followed by Claire Haviza (107), Ally Warner (119), Josie Patrick (124), Lydia Mikesell (138) and Jen Wolf (147).
For Tri-Village, Andi Bietry shot 104 followed by Kloey Murphy (106), Camryn Wyne (125) and Lily Preston (165).
With the entire CCC golf season compete, Unger, Bietry and Haviza were top 10 individuals. Unger finished fourth, Bietry was fifth and Haviza was sixth.
National Trail’s Makenna Jones was the individual champion and Player of the Year.
