UNSUNG HERO
Saratoga senior golfer Luke Baringer gave up spot in Suburban Council tournament to 8th grader
SARATOGASPRINGS, NY » Saratoga coach Jake Zanetti called him the unsung hero of the team. Athletic Director Nick McPartland expressed how proud he was. Teammate Will Braxton was surprised, but grateful.
When it came down to it, Saratoga senior golfer Luke Baringer was simply trying to do the right thing, by giving his team, what he thought, was the best chance to come out victorious in last week’s Suburban Council championship tournament.
“Luke was going to be our fourth player, but he decided on the Wednesday before the tournament to give his spot to eight-grader Carter Sica, who shot a 77 and tied for ninth place out of 52 competitors,” Zanetti said. “Luke made a selfless, team-first decision to end his senior season, that was well-received and respected by his teammates.”
The decision worked as Braxton (63), Kellen Dean (71), Sica (77), and Clarkie Carroll (80) combined for the best teamscore of the day, winning the team championship. What wasn’t at the top of the headlines was the Blue Streak se
nior who wasn’t there.
“I’m very appreciative that Luke gave up his spot to let me play. I have a lot of respect for the older players on the team,” Sica said, who is in his first year on the varsity team. “I met Luke this season and I was able to play with him during some of ourmatches. He was always really nice tome and he respected that I was younger and kind of took me in. He told me things about varsity golf, pressure that he felt when he was younger not to really worry about any of it.”
The Wednesday practice prior to the Suburbans was already supposed to be a special day, as Zanetti got the Blue Streaks a practice time at Saratoga National. What they didn’t know was that a day earlier Baringer had brought up the idea to Zanetti about giving his spot to Sica, who was just playing better.
“I was definitely surprised. Even though Luke’s play of recent may not have been enough to earn that spot, his play over the years and everything he’s contributed to the program, that spot was certainly his,” said fellow senior Will Braxton. “For him to do what he did and give the spot to Carter, who was just playing better that week, he gave the teama better chance towin and it speaksmultitudes of Luke’s character and what type of kid he is.”
“It definitely was not something that I saw coming, but I’m glad that it worked out.”
Sica, who was already learning how to deal with the pressure of being a young player on a varsity team, had his work cut out for him, not only on the physical side on the game, but with the mental side of the game as well.
“I definitely felt pretty pressured that he had given me his spot and I knew that I had to really show up. Some ofmy teammates told me to just go out and play my game and to ignore the pressure. During the round I had some tough holes, but I played well overall, had some fun and it ended up working out,” Sica said.
Part of the reason hewas able to handle that pressure so well was his determination in the beginning of the season, where he made it his goal tomake the varsity team as an eighth grader.
“Being on varsity as an eighth grader had been my goal for a long time. I was practicing as much as I could with a lot of experienced guys. I played pretty well in tryouts and I’ve just been trying tomovemyway up since then and to play the best as I can.”
Braxton described the moment Baringer announced he was giving up his spot, as well as his confidence going into the tournament with Sica and Kellen Dean, a ninth grader.
“When that happened, the seniors went over to him and said ‘ that’s very cool of you and we appreciate it.’
The guys on our team are very experienced with competitive golf. I know that Carter and Kellen love to compete with each other and they know howto handle themselves in an 18-hole tournament and I think they proved that,” Braxton said.
Evenwith the loss of their seniors, the future is bright for Saratoga golf. With Dean (9) and Sica (8) now leading the way, theywill be joined by Charlie Blake (9), Chaz Colucci (10) and some other new recruits as the Blue Streaks look to continue their streak of dominance.
“It makes me proud to know that we have those types of athletes in our program who put the team first andmake selfless acts like that,” McPartland said. “We’re so used to seeing the selfish attitudes in professional sports, so to see a senior do this at the high school level, it speaks volumes to Luke’s character and his level of maturity.”
All players invloved expressed gratitude that a season took place to begin with, after so much was uncertain to begin the academic year. Sica described themoment this year where he really started to feel like he was meant to be on the varsity squad.
“We were playing at Van Patten Golf Course and it was probably the best that I’ve played all year. I was even through eight and KellenDean andI were tied going into the last hole. We ended up tying and it was just really fun. I really used that to motivate me going forward. I felt like I had really contributed to the team and that was when it truly felt like I belonged,” he said.
“We were all really fortunate that golf happened this year, because there were a lot of other sports that didn’t. As golf courses reopened, I was practicing everyday with a couple of the guys that are also on varsity now. I’m grateful that the season happened and that I was able to gain the experiences that I did this season.”