Ganter, La Plata win county golf tournament
Ganter, La Plata win golf tournament titles
Some of the drama surrounding the outcome of the Charles County Golf Championships on Wednesday at White Plains Golf Course was altered considerably when North Point sophomore Bailey Davis scratched due to a minor foot injury, but that hardly phased eventual champion Gavin Ganter of La Plata.
Ganter fired a low round of 5-overpar 77 despite three-putting the first two holes and captured the county title courtesy of birdies on No. 9 and No. 16. The Warriors sophomore had been the low medalist one week earlier when La Plata defeated North Point and St. Charles and he was looking forward to a rematch to validate his previous tally of the reigning girls state champion.
“I beat her last week when we played here and I was looking forward to playing her again,” Ganter said. “This course always plays tight and you have to stay in the fairways. I started off rough with three-putts on the first two holes, but I started making putts before we made the turn and I had a birdie on No. 9 and another birdie on No. 16 that helped.”
St. Charles High School senior Zach Spann finished the round with an 86 while playing in the lead group with Ganter and Ryan Graves of Westlake. Spann admitted that much of his game was on point on Wednesday, but overall he seemed slightly disappointed with his final score. Spann quickly put the round behind him and looked toward next week’s District IV tournament at Breton Bay Golf and Country Club in Leonardtown.
“I thought my drives were good and my short game was good and my putting was OK,” Spann said, “but my head just wasn’t in it today for some reason. I thought I should have played better. I’m hoping to do better next week at Districts and then qualify for states.”
Ganter led the Warriors to the team
title with a score of 327 to win the Superintendent Cup, with teammate Tyler Moody finishing second overall with an 81. North Point’s Ian Carpenter shot an 83 to finish third and lead the Eagles in Davis’ absence. North Point finished second overall in the team title chase with 381 behind John Sullivan (92), A.J. Accad (96) and Michael Stone (110).
McDonough finished third overall with a combined score of 412 led by Koshie Meneses’ 99, the only member of the Rams squad to break 100. Ryan King (103), Conner Wright (104) and Austin Delawder (106) also contributed to the Rams final team tally.
Westlake (424) edged Lackey (426) for fourth, as Graves (92) was the only member of either team to break 100 on Wednesday. Daniel Yum shot an even 100 for the Wolverines, while Jaelin Stoner and Jaelin Walker each had 116. The Chargers were led Marvin Cherry (103) and Cameron Mills (106) and Alannah Milstead (107) and Earlie Harris (110).
Thomas Stone (447) placed sixth behind Chris Rand-Crawford’s 97, while Lily Sachsel (108), Christian White (121) and Teagan Levy (121) completed the quartet. St. Charles only sent out two players, Spann who finished seventh overall with an 86 and Ryann Brown (113), so the Spartans were not in line for any team awards.
Of the three dozen golfers who completed the course at White Plains on Wednesday only an even dozen broke 100 and another landed on that number. Ganter and Moody took the top two spots in the individual title chase and La Plata teammates Jake Ellis (84) finished fourth and Jake Gleason (85) and Jax Getgen (85) tied for fifth.
“I’m hoping to place high at districts and regionals and then make it into the top 20 at states,” Ganter said. “Then my long term goals are to play in college some day.”