SYRACUSE – On a cool, wet day where the contestants pretty well had the course to themselves, Wawasee won what turned out to be a three-team golf match over Manchester and Whitko at South Shore Thursday evening. Wawasee had a team score of 169 to the Squires’ 186 and Whitko’s 197. South Bend Riley was a no-show, and Wawasee head coach Steve Coverstone said he hadn’t heard from Riley’s athletic department. All three teams and several more will be at South Shore on Saturday for the Wawasee Invitational. So Thursday’s play will give the three teams a bit of an advantage, as conditions are expected to be very similar Saturday morning. Wawasee was paced by medalist Cal Heinisch, who carded a 4-over par 40 in spite of taking a double bogey on the ninth hole. Senior Jeffrey Moore also double bogeyed the ninth, and checked in with a 41. All five Warrior players broke 50, but it’s still not the level of play the program has had in recent years. “We have some guys that don’t have a lot of experience. They’re not young age-wise, but they don’t have a lot of varsity golf experience,” Coverstone said. “It’s a lot different playing varsity; it’s a different pressure when you’re playing better players. When you add that pressure, mistakes start creeping in. “We’re trying to eliminate the big holes, which we’re still not doing. Hopefully, we’ll get better as the season goes on.” Manchester had to scramble a little bit to fill spots, but coach Rex Reimer said the conditions didn’t affect the Squires’ play. “My (usual) No. 2 golfer was on a trip to New York City, but he’ll be back Saturday,” Reimer said. ”Weather-wise, I don’t think it affected our guys too much; these kids will wear shorts in 30-degree weather. “I had my No. 7 golfer (Eli Shaum) step in and play No. 5, and he shot 48, so overall, I was pretty pleased. “It’s a positive for these guys to see at least nine holes. today the greens were pretty soft, so the kids were able to attack the pins.” Whitko head coach Ben Ogden wasn’t as happy with the Wildcats’ performance. “It seems like we play better on our home course (Sycamore Golf club in North Manchester). I don’t know if it’s something mental or what, but the conditions probably played a little bit of a part today,” he said. “(Wednesday) we played pretty well, and Saturday at the Whitko Invitational we had one of our best nines of the season. I hope getting the preview tonight will help us on Saturday. From what I’ve heard, the conditions on Saturday aren’t supposed to be great, either. So in practice we’ll have to work on something to get us mentally prepared.” Saturday’s tournament will begin around 9 a.m.
WAWASEE 169, MANCHESTER 186, WHITKO 197 at South Shore GC, Syracuse Wawasee – Cal Heinisch 40 (medalist), Jeffrey Moore 41, Austin Shrack 43, Trevor Haessig 45, Kyle Weideman 49 Manchester – Noah Cain 46, Parker Wagoner 46, Carter Vernon 46, Eli Shaum 48, Brandon Wilcox 55 Whitko – Grady Clingerman 44, tim Gensch 50, Kaleb Busz 50, Nic Rose 53, Caleb Bechtold 53 Manchester JV – Logan Parrot 53 Wawasee JV – Dillon Drake 48, Jayce Boatwright 48, Jared Krugman 51, Dustin Brown 56, Caleb Glon 66 Whitko JV – Cole Cmar 51, Austin Nettrouer 51, Sam Rickerd 57
