Riders miss state cut by 4 strokes
FINDLAY — They missed a ride to Columbus by four strokes.
The St. Marys Roughriders boys golf team endured chili temperatures, windy conditions and spitting rain throughout the morning and afternoon at the
Findlay Country Club — the site of the Division I boys district tournament on Thursday.
With the top two schools advancing to compete at Columbus next week, the Roughriders finished with a team score of 335 — four strokes shy of district runner-up Sylvania Northview, who finished with a team score of 331.
Ashland was the district champion with a 325, led by Tyler Sabo’s score of 71.
“I am really proud of the season these guys had,” Roughriders coach Steve Schmitmeyer
said. “One stroke from being the WBL champs, qualifying for districts and only four strokes from going to the state tournament, w set our goal to make it to the state tournament.”
The Roughriders were the best team out of the Western Buckeye League on Thursday, with fellow league schools not faring as well. Elida placed seventh with a team score of 344 and league champion Shawnee finished ninth with a score of 359.
“We beat the other WBL teams today,” Schmitmeyer added. “We beat Shawnee, who was the WBL champs, in four of five 18 -ole tournaments and beat Elida three of the five times we played this year.”
The Roughriders were led by juniors Andrew Moore and Cole Koenig, who both carded in an 81. Senior Reese Sweigart concluded his career with an 84 and Calvin Caywood rounded out the scoring with an 89. Dakota Moore also completed, finishing with a 94.
Looking to garner their second WBL title in three seasons, the Roughriders were runnersup in the WBL Championship in September.
St. Marys finished 6-3 in WBL dual matches and 7-3 overall, with Defiance (6-3) and Elida (72) tying for second ahead of the Riders with 16.5 points in the overall standings and Shawnee (8-1) winning this year’s league with 17 points.
It is the worst finish in the WBL standings for St. Marys — to no fault of its own — since finishing fifth in 2017. But the Roughriders lost by a combined six strokes in the three losses to WBL foes this season, including a fifth-score tiebreaker, 46-47, in the league opener at Defiance and facing a Bath team who happened to play its best golf all season.
“I felt like we could make it and we were right there. The guys will be hungry for next year,” the coach said.
Advancing to state as individuals were Elida’s Carson Harmon with a runner-up score of 77 and Anthony Wayne’s Andrew Briars with a 78.`
Team scores
1. Ashland 325; 2. Sylvania Northview 331; 3. St. Marys 335; 4. Anthony Wayne 337; 5. St. John’s Jesuit 338; 6. Lexington 340; 7. Elida 344; 8. St. Francis 354; 9. Shawnee 359; 10. Findlay 367.