SPORTS

Seven Hills claims golf state championship

John Snodgrass
jsnodgrass@gannett.com
Seven Hills golf team posses with the Division III state championship trophy, Saturday, October 15 at NorthStar Golf Club in Sunbury.

SUNBURY – Seven Hills claimed its first golf state championship Saturday afternoon, shooting a two-day total of 648 at the Division III State Championship at NorthStar Golf Club in Sunbury.

“This the best group of guys,” Seven Hills coach Doug Huff said. “I told them just now that they are the best team I have ever coached and we’ve had a lot of good ones.”

Senior Jack Lane earned first-team all-state honors with a two-day total of 153, finishing fifth overall. Sophomore Max Lane earned second-team all-state accolades with his score of 157, tying for seventh. Seniors Daniel Grass (22nd, 167) and John Stewart (32nd, 171) rounded out Seven Hills’ scoring.

“Amazing, this is absolutely incredible,” Jack Lane said. “We were hoping to be top half, my sophomore year we placed near the bottom so we just wanted to make a good showing at states.”

That they did.

The Stingers entered Saturday in a comfortable place, having shot a score of 319 on Friday and holding a nine-stroke lead. A tough course with windy conditions meant a more conservative approach on Saturday – the Stingers shot 329 on Day 2 – but Seven Hills played within their own limits and used their large stroke-differential to their advantage.

“It wasn’t too bad but it was stressful,” Grass said. “Even though we had the lead, we knew we had to protect it. We didn’t want to give up something like that and me, being a senior, I knew I was never going to have an opportunity like that again. I just really wanted to win.”

The victory was something Huff and the program had been waiting on for quite some time.

“We’ve had a lot of great teams go through Seven Hills,” the coach said. “We’ve won the sectional tournament, we’ve won the district tournament and now state. It’s really truly amazing because we’ve had a lot of golfers go on to the next level that were very, very good that were never able to accomplish what this team was able to do. They grinded it out, they fought hard, we put them up against the toughest teams in the state the entire year to prepare them for this.”

Cincinnati Country Day was also in action on Saturday in Sunbury, finishing in sixth place. CCD shot a second-day total of 352 to go along with their Day 1 total of 334 for a two-day total of 686. Junior Jack Gardner led CCD with a score of 164. He finished in a four-way tie for 15th.

"I was very pleased with what we did, yesterday (Friday) we shot below our team average for the year, which was our goal," CCD coach Greg Faulhaber said. "Our goal was to be in the top six going into today, so the first day we met both days' goals. The weather today was a little bit on the windy side. ... Overall, I was extremely pleased with their performances over the past few days."

Senior Hunter Folan placed tied for 36th (173) while juniors Thomas MacTaggart (T41st, 176) and John Pettengill (T44th, 178) rounded out CCD's scoring.

Columbiana junior Jared Wilson won the Division III individual state championship, shooting two one-under par rounds of 71 to finish with a 142.

With Seven Hills taking the state title and CCD placing sixth, the Miami Valley Conference ended the season on a high note.

"Seven Hills came in third in our conference, we came in fourth in our conference and I think it's a testament to how strong our conference is that we have a state champion and the sixth-place team, yet we came in third and fourth place in our own conference," Faulhaber said.