Jerome, New Albany chasing titles again
High expectations go with the territory for the Dublin Jerome boys and New Albany girls golf teams as they set out to defend their Division I state championships Friday and Saturday at Ohio State’s Scarlet and Gray courses.
Jerome is shooting for a fourth straight title and 10th overall while New Albany is heavily favored to three-peat and possibly better its two-round record score (571) of a year ago.
“Do I feel any pressure? One hundred percent so, but it’s an exciting kind of pressure,” first-year Jerome coach Joe Flynn said. “When you’ve had the kind of success we’ve had, the expectations are huge. But we’ve got a veteran bunch of guys with state tournament experience and it shouldn’t faze them.”
For the first time in recent memory, the Celtics aren’t overwhelming favorites going in. Olentangy Orange dethroned Jerome as district champion and the two teams have been separated by only one to four strokes during their three head-to-head meetings.
Akron Hoban, Cleveland St. Ignatius, Hudson, Stow-munroe Falls, Cincinnati St. Xavier, Mason and Lakota East turned in comparable scores on various courses.
“I think any of five or six teams can win it, but I like our chances,” Flynn said. “We stack up with anybody talentwise. Any of our top five guys theoretically could be individual state champion. Our guys have been there and they know what it takes to win.”
Jerome’s balanced lineup is headed by returning senior state medalist Tyler Groomes, junior Brett Podobinski, who shot a district runner-up 71, and senior Ryan Miller.
Orange’s top three players — seniors Jonathan Green and Corbin Bentley and junior Luke Johnson — were within one stroke of one another at the district.
“Any time you knock off a three-time defending state champion, win your first district and qualify to the state for the first time since 2008, you’ve got to be thrilled to death,” Orange coach Jerrod Ross said.
“We expected to have a lot of success this year. All of these guys have played together since they were young. Sure, playing on this stage will be new for the guys, but they’ve played in a lot of junior events and I don’t imagine the pressure will play into it much, especially with limited crowds in place.”
Ross can envision the Pioneers and Jerome battling it out for the title. Since 2004, the Central District has produced 12 big-school state championship teams.
“If we put four scorers together, we can go low,” he said. “We’ve had several tournaments with all five guys in the 70s. Our top three guys average 73 or 74 and the bottom two are between 76 and 78. It’s all about playing good at the same time. If we can be within five to eight strokes going into Saturday, I think we’ve got a chance to get on the podium.”
Josh Qian of Westerville Central was district medalist with a 70 and hopes to improve on his eighth-place state finish in 2019.
New Albany’s girls, on the other hand, turned in a district score of 294. The next batch of contenders, including Dublin Coffman, turned in qualifying scores 20-25 strokes higher. The Eagles won by 26 strokes in 2018 and 43 last year.
Junior Kary Hollenbaugh brings in a scoring average of 71.1, junior Anna Ritter 72.1 and Santa Clara-bound senior Madison Spiess 75.25. Ritter, daughter of the coach, is the defending state medalist.
“Our order kind of floats,” coach Rich Ritter said. “We have several girls who have medaled at matches. A lot of our kids took advantage of the OHSAA exemption to play in outside tournaments early in our season and we were a little late putting everybody together. I like what I’ve seen and we’re really excited about this weekend.”
Central Ohio has produced nine state championship girls teams in a row, as well as the past two runners-up. sblackledge@dispatch.com @Blackiepreps