The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
New Canaan captures first Division I state title
BRISTOL — Marc DeGaetano didn’t take long to answer the question about how he would remember New Canaan’s performance on the golf course over the past five days.
“It’s definitely something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life,” said DeGaetano, a senior and the No. 1 player for the Rams.
New Canaan will be the answer to the trivia question: What team won the first FCIAC and Division I state championship meets played during the inaugural fall high school boys golf season in Connecticut? After winning the FCIAC last Thursday, the Rams followed that up by capturing the Division I title on Monday at Chippanee Country Club.
“In the last week, we have played exceptionally well,” DeGaetano said. “As you can see, scores were high at both places. Both (course) conditions were hard. Putting up a score below 80 was an accomplishment. … Winning an FCIAC championship and then winning a state championship, you don’t really get to do that in one year too often.”
It’s the first Division I state title for New Canaan and the 12th overall. It’s the fourth time the Rams have won both championships in the same seasons (2006, 2011 and 2015).
“I’m sort of speechless,” New Canaan coach Bill Brown said. “What helps us is the fact is we have a little bit more depth maybe than some of these other teams. All five of them were great. I couldn’t be more happy and proud of these guys. It’s a great day.”
New Canaan finished with a cumulative total of 32-over-par 312, two strokes better than Glastonbury. DeGaetano led the way with a 76, followed by Sean Watchmaker (78), Taylor Pinkernell (78) and Sam Funk (80).
The golfers got a taste of what New England weather could be like: rain, wind and, at by the end of the round, the sun came out.
Some golfers were wearing lined jackets, others were wearing wool hats. Anything to combat the conditions.
“Other than today, the weather has been perfect,” Glastonbury senior Connor Goode said. “I prefer fall golf. Although the season is a little bit shorter, weather-wise and conditions are definitely better.”
Goode was the medalist, besting the conditions for an even-par 70 in the last group of the day. He was 3 shots better than anyone else in the field.
But Goode, a senior who recently committed to play college golf at UConn, wasn’t terribly pleased the Gladiators didn’t win the team championship.
“I don’t think it (the individual title) matters. We were supposed to win today and we didn’t, so it’s definitely disappointing,” said Goode, who won the Connecticut Junior Amateur this summer. “I definitely left some shots out there.”
St. Joseph made it a clean FCIAC sweep on Monday, winning the Division II state championship held at Silo Point CC. Three other FCIAC teams, Greenwich, Wilton and Darien, placed third through fifth, respectively, at Division I.
There was a three-way tie for second place in the individual competition: Alex Elia (Wilton), William Gregware (Conard) and Angad Manaise (Westhill) all shot 73. All three players will join Goode at the New England championship meet being held Nov. 1 at the Mohegan Sun Golf Club in Baltic.
Elia, a senior was the medalist at the FCIAC meet held at Silver Spring CC in Ridgefield, his home course.
“Cold weather, the balls not traveling as far. It was definitely a test today,” Elia said. “I was leaving putts short early in the round. It definitely was a struggle to adjust, but once I made the adjustment, it was golf again.”
Gregware, a sophomore, was the medalist at the CCC championship meet held last week at Stanley GC in New Britain.
“It was windy and cold, much harder. You really had to keep the ball in play. That was the main thing today,” Gregware said. “It was tough playing out there, but you have to grind through it sometimes.”
Manaise wasn’t able to participate in the FCIAC meet because Westhill didn’t qualify, but the sophomore had a fine individual season.
“It was a lot colder up here than in Stamford,” Manaise said. “I’m not really surprised, this is a long time coming, a good score. A couple of stupid mistakes here and there. I missed a lot of putts on the front nine by a couple of inches.”