FORT WAYNE -- Tyler Ostrom said winning medalist honors at Thursday's boys golf regional was nice, but his main concern was helping his team advance to the state finals. With the talented junior's 1-under score of 70, the second-ranked Warsaw Tigers did just that as they shot a four-man score of 307 to finish third at Orchard Ridge Country Club in Fort Wayne. Unranked Fort Wayne Canterbury and sixth-ranked Homestead both shot 303, with Canterbury claming the regional championship based on a fifth-man tiebreaker. The top three teams, as well as the top three individuals not on an advancing team, will play at Legends of Indiana in Franklin Tuesday. "Honestly, it's nice to win, but I couldn't care less," Ostrom, speaking in a very polite and humble manner, said of his two-stroke victory over the rest of the field. "I wanted to put up a good score and help the team get to state, that's what was important to me. And it doesn't matter if we finished first or third here today, we get to move on." The only other local player to advance was Triton sophomore Quentyn Carpenter, who shot 75 and had to win a three-person, two-hole playoff to claim the final individual berth from Thursday's regional. Northridge's Logan McBride and East Noble's Michael Sharp both shot 74 and advanced individually, while Carpenter had to go to overtime and eliminate Garrett's Bennette Reike and Fairfield's Brian Ulrich. "Quentyn has been working so hard," said Triton coach Jack Carpenter, also Quentyn's father. "People probably don't realize the amount of time he puts in. Golf is a great sport for him, because he's a grinder." Triton, which won the program's first sectional championship last week by beating Warsaw via a fifth-man tiebreaker at Stonehenge, finished fourth as a team Thursday with a score of 312. Griffyn Carpenter shot 76 for Triton, while Ryan Rapp carded an 80, Taran Kennedy shot 81 and Chandler Slone finished with a 92. A year ago, the Trojans shot 312 at the regional and advanced to state. On that day, however, all five of Triton's players turned in sub-80 scores. "This is a tough regional," said Jack Carpenter. "We knew there would be five or six teams that we'd have to battle, but we knew we're good enough to battle them. We just didn't play well enough today. Last year we had five scores in the 70s. Today, our depth just didn't show up." Northridge finished fifth Thursday with a 312, followed in the 12-team field by Culver Military (318), Fairfield (320), Carroll (320), Bishop Dwenger (322), DeKalb (333), NorthWood (336) and Concordia (344). After not advancing to state in his first season with the Tigers, coach Ben Barkey's Warsaw program has advanced to state in six of the past eight seasons. The Tigers didn't win the sectional on their home course last week and grabbed the final advancing spot from the regional, yet here they are, with a chance to bring home another state championship next week. "The regional is always an emotional roller coaster," said Barkey, who hasn't forgotten that when his team won the 2005 state championship it got out of the regional with a third-place finish on a fifth-man tiebreaker. "The kids didn't play their best today, but they played well enough. Every player on this team is capable of playing great golf. Whether we won here today or finished third, the bottom line is we're going back to state, and that's our goal every year." To go with Ostrom's 70, the Tigers got a 78 from Jon Schram, 79 from Eric Tandy, 80 from Tim Ahlersmeyer and 91 from Bennett Hollar. "We came here with a lot of expectations and there was a lot of pressure on us," said Barkey, whose second-ranked team hasn't lost a regular season match since 2009. "Going down to state, the kids know what to expect. We've been there before, and we know how to handle ourselves. We just need to go down there and play the type of golf I know we're capable of. I've got a great group of players, who are also great kids, and they'll be ready for next week." A tournament that was filled with ranked teams, Warsaw -- ranked fourth at the time -- won the 24-team Spring Preview at Legends of Indiana on April 16. Ostrom finished second individually that day, and the Tigers beat runner-up Norwell by nine strokes.
HOMESTEAD REGIONAL Orchard Ridge Country Club, Fort Wayne Par 71 Team scores -- Canterbury 303, Homestead 303, Warsaw 307, Triton 312, Northridge 313, Culver Military 318, Fairfield 320, Carroll 320, Bishop Dwenger 322, DeKalb 333, NorthWood 336, Concordia 344 Low Individuals -- Tyler Ostrom (Warsaw) 70, Trent Van Horn (Canterbury) 72, Jon Finley (Homestead) 73, Tom Kocks (Homestead) 73 Advancing individuals -- Logan McBride (Northridge) 74, Michael Sharp (East Noble) 74, Quentyn Carpenter (Triton) 75 Warsaw -- Tyler Ostrom 70, Jon Schram 78, Eric Tandy 79, Bennett Hollar 91, Tim Ahlersmeyer 80 Triton -- Quentyn Carpenter 75, Taran Kennedy 81, Ryan Rapp 80, Chandler Slone 92, Griffyn Carpenter 76
