FORT WAYNE - Warsaw boys golf coach Ben Barkey was so excited Friday afternoon, one might have thought his Tigers won the regional championship.
"I told (assistant coach) Tad (Nieter), this is better than getting first," said Barkey, whose team rallied on the back nine for a third-place finish and a berth in next week's state finals. "I thought we were dead at the turn, but these kids kept playing. Holy smokes, I'm so proud of them."After shooting a 164 on the front nine at Orchard Ridge Country Club, the Tigers were eight strokes better on the back side, carding a four-man team score of 320 to finish third and keep their dreams of a state championship alive.
"All season long, these kids have listened and worked so hard," said Barkey, whose lineup consists of two freshmen, two sophomores and a senior. "They're all very talented golfers, and they're learning the life lesson that hard work does pay off. We're a young team, and to see these kids' hard work pay off this early is really awesome."
Homestead, playing on its home course, won the team championship with a score of 310, while Prarie Heights finished second, just one stroke ahead of Warsaw.
The top three teams and the top three individuals not on an advancing team qualified for Tuesday's first round of the state finals at Legends of Indiana in Franklin, where Warsaw won the 2005 state championship.
"For these young guys to experience playing in the state finals already, that's awesome," said Barkey. "I'm just so proud of all these guys."
Northridge finished fourth in the 12-team regional with a score of 322, followed by Canterbury (325), Lakeland (329), Triton (329), Tippecanoe Valley (330), Bishop Dwenger (332), Carroll (333), DeKalb (336) and Northrop (347).
Homestead's Michael Jenkins, who played his first three years of high school golf at Wawasee, shot a 4-over par 75 and beat Dwenger's Austin Stonebraker in a one-hole playoff for medalist honors.
Advancing to the state finals as individuals are Stonebraker, Lakeland's Cole Pechin (76), Triton's Taran Kennedy (76) and Canterbury's Stefan Katzemeier (76).
For Warsaw, sophomore Eric Tandy led the way with a 77, while freshmen Tyler Ostrom and Bennett Hollar and senior Scotty Boyle shot 81s. Sophomore Mitchell Gauger shot five strokes better on the back nine and finished with an 83, but his score wasn't used in the team score.
Ostrom, playing in the No. 1 spot for the Tigers, had the final Warsaw score to be turned in.
After shooting a 44 on the front, the talented freshman carded a 37 on the back.
"Tyler Ostrom, a freshman, talk about a gutsy kid," said Barkey. "He's a great kid, all these kids are great kids. Wow, he turned it around on the back."
For Tippecanoe Valley, playing in the regional for the first time since 2001, senior Kenny Campbell and junior Caleb Rovenstine led the way with 78s.
"We got 78s today from Kenny and Caleb," said Valley coach Roger Moriarty. "It was great to be back at the regional as a team, and Kenny and Caleb were each just two strokes away from going to the state finals as individuals. I'm very happy for those two kids, they represented us well. We needed another good score, and we just didn't get it today. But I'm still proud of these kids, they played great at the sectional last week and we had a great season."
Taylor Breeden shot an 85 for Valley, while Dan Silva turned in an 89 and Bray Swihart carded a 94.
"We just didn't get a third good score today," said Moriarty. "We're really sorry to see Kenny go, but we're really excited to have Caleb coming back. We'll have three of these kids back next year, I think that's a pretty strong nucleus for next year."
To go with Kennedy's 76, Triton got a 79 from Griffyn Carpenter, an 83 from Chandler Slone, a 91 from Dane Kennedy and a 96 from Colton Keel.
Manchester's Josh Troyer competed in the regional as an individual and shot a 79.
