NORTH MANCHESTER – Tippecanoe Valley’s boys golf team earned a pair of Three Rivers Conference wins over Manchester and host Whitko Thursday. The Vikings carded a 178 to the Squires’ 183, while the Wildcats came in at 190 at Sycamore Golf Club, the home course for both Manchester and Whitko. Valley coach Darren Parker echoed the sentiments of the other two coaches; that it’s nice to play in weather more associated with spring. “We’re trying to learn how to play when our hands aren’t frozen,” he cracked. Parker also talked about the improvement in his team since the start of the year, and getting a pair of wins when his No. 1 player, Jeremy Julian, struggled some. “From the start of the season to now, we’ve taken off 25 to 30 strokes, so we’re getting better. I think there’s a little room for improvement still,” Parker said. “Jeremy had some three-putts; he struggled a little bit tonight. He had a 44, which isn’t quite up to his standards, but still our second-best score. Trevor Neeley led our team with a 41. As a senior, he’s been waiting for that round, and finally got it. That’s his best performance of the year, and it’s good to see that.” Manchester sophomore Parker Wagoner was the medalist, using consistency to record a 2-over par 38 on the back nine at Sycamore. “(Wagoner’s) always got that potential to shoot around that 40-41 mark, and he played really well tonight. He had seven pars and two bogeys; he was even through seven holes, and he one-putted five holes,” Manchester head coach Rex Reimer said. “Sometimes, when we’ve played though so much rain, when we get nice weather we don’t know how to act. Tonight the guys played really well. I still think we have the potential to shoot in the 170s, if all five guys have it clicking.” On the other side of the spectrum, Whitko head coach Ben Ogden is looking for consistency from his team. “I don’t know if we’re just not used to playing in good weather or what,” he said. “We played pretty well (Wednesday) night, but tonight was a different story. Some struggled with putting, which is surprising because that’s about all we’ve done in practice this week, others it was like they were rushing and not hitting the solid shots they usually hit. “We have what we call the ‘10-yard rule,’ walk 10 yards and forget about the last shot, move on ot the next hole. We’ll have to do the same thing with the next match.” Valley will play in the Bob Turner Classic at Tippecanoe Country Club near Leesburg on Monday. Whitko added a match with Triton, which will be played at Rozella Ford in Warsaw on Tuesday. Manchester is off until May 26, when it hosts Peru at Sycamore.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 178, MANCHESTER 183, WHITKO 190 at Sycamore GC, North Manchester Valley – Trevor Neeley 41, Jeremy Julian 44, Cole Cumberland 45, Chandler Newsome 48, Kane Stellar 57 Manchester – Parker Wagoner 38 (medalist), Noah Cain 43, Nathan Self 49. Logan Parrett 53, Branden Wilcox 55 Whitko – Grady Clingerman 42, Kaleb Busz 46. Cade Bechtold 50, Nic Rose 52, Tim Gensch 54 JV – Whitko 218, Manchester 220, Valley 276 Whitko – Austin Nettrouer 48, Devin Goggin 52, Cole Cmar 58, Sam Rickerd 60 Valley – John Young 57, Chris Schipper 58, Noah Hoffman 63, Matt Hume 98
