FRANKLIN – Ben Barkey admitted he was disappointed with a sixth-place finish at the state finals. The 10th-year Warsaw boys golf coach also admitted he’d quickly be over it, that his seventh-ranked Tigers had too much to be proud of. “Yeah, it’s disappointing, but I’ll be over it in five minutes,” said Barkey, whose team shot a two-day total of 625 to finish in a tie with Cathedral. “It’s not my style to stay disappointed. We accomplished a lot this year – six straight invitational wins, two all-state players, two academic all-state players, we won confererence for the fourth straight year, won sectional, won regional. We’ve got a lot to be proud of.” Playing in the state finals at The Legends in Franklin for the fourth consecutive year and for the seventh time in nine years, the Tigers shot 307 in Tuesday’s first round and were in third place and just four shots from the lead. On Wednesday, Warsaw shot a 311 – about 10 strokes above the team’s 18-hole average for the season. “It goes back to the big numbers,” said Barkey. “We took some big numbers on some holes, and that just kills your momentum, your mojo, it kills everything.” When the state tournament started with sectional play, there were 317 teams. When the state finals started Tuesday, there were 21 teams at The Legends. The field was cut to 10 teams for Wednesday’s round, and when the dust settled No. 3 Evansville Harrison was the big winner. The Warriors, shot a four-man score of 300 in the second round to finish with a 611 and a three-shot victory over two-time defending champion and second-ranked Brebeuf. Eighth-ranked Jasper finished third with a 615, followed by No. 1 Columbus North (618), No. 5 Floyd Central (621), No. 7 Warsaw (625), No. 19 Cathedral (625), No. 16 Carmel (626), Penn (633) and Dwenger (639). “We felt like we had a really good shot,” said senior Bennett Hollar, referring to starting the final round just four shots out of the lead as a team. “We knew we’d have to come out and play our best, and we just didn’t do that today.” Junior Jon Schram led the Tigers with a 147, shooting 73 in the first round and 74 on Wednesday. Individually, Schram finished in a tie for eighth place. “I feel pretty good about how I played,” said Schram. “I had two pretty good days. Before this week, I had never broke 80 here.” Senior Tyler Ostrom, the defending individual state champion, shot even-par 72 Tuesday and was just three shots out of the lead, but came back Wednesday with an 80. The Ball State-bound Ostrom finished in a five-person tie for 14th. Junior Tim Ahlersmeyer finished the state finals with a 162 (82-80), while the Wheaton College-bound Hollar shot a 164 (80-84), and freshman Jonny Hollar and sophomore Jared Essig each played one round and shot 86. “I’ll take these guys and sixth in the state anytime,” said Barkey, whose team finished seventh at state last year. “I’m very lucky to have great kids from great families. They handled adversity with class today. That’s what sports is all about. I couldn’t be happier how they represented Warsaw.” Evansville Harrison sophomore Sean Stone shot a two-day total of 140 to capture medalist honors. Evansville Central sophomore Dylan Meyer (69-74 143) finished second, while Cathedral senior Jon Williams (71-73 144) was third. After shooting a 71 Tuesday, Stone came back with a 69 in the final round. Stone played the back nine first and birdied seven of the holes en route to a 29 at the turn. He was at 7-under with three holes to play, and finished his round by going bogey, double bogey and bogey. Though he was briefly disappointed with his team’s finish and high score Wednesday, Barkey was happy to reflect on the state of Warsaw’s program. “I’m excited to have another year with Jon and Tim, and a couple more years with our younger players,” said Barkey, who later showed emotion and got teary-eyed when talking about losing seniors Ostrom and Hollar. “Jon is legit. He’s a great player. I think his two rounds of 80 last year were a fluke. We have a nice core of players returning, and we have a great JV team. I think our JV team could have played here at state. We’re still going to have a thriving program, and our goal will be to get to state again.”
76th annual state finals The Legends, Franklin Par 72 Team scores – Evansville Harrison 311-300 611, Brebeuf 305-309 614, Jasper 311-304 615, Columbus North 303-315 618, Floyd Central 308-313 621, Warsaw 307-318 625, Cathedral 308-317 625, Carmel 309-317 626, Penn 312-321 633, Dwenger 313-326 639 Top individuals – Sean Stone (Evansville Harrison) 71-69 140, Dylan Meyer (Evansville Central) 69-74 143, Jon Williams (Cathedral) 71-73 144 Warsaw – Tyler Ostrom 72-80 152, Jon Schram 73-74 147, Tim Ahlersmeyer 82-80 162, Bennett Hollar 80-84 164, Jonny Hollar 86 (first round), Jared Essig 86 (second round)
