Downes repeats; St. John’s ends slump

HAMPDEN — If ever there was a horse for a course in high school golf, Longmeadow’s Ryan Downes playing at GreatHorse would be the one. The senior has committed to Vanderbilt, and this summer became the youngest Massachusetts Amateur champion.

Downes celebrated his 18th birthday Tuesday by shooting a 4-under par 68 to repeat as medalist of the MIAA Division 1 golf championship by three strokes over Westford Academy senior Ilan Rashdan on the 6,498-yard course where his father, Billy, is the head professional.

“It’s cool to be back-to-back state champ,” Downes said. “I feel like I didn’t play my absolute best today, I got a bit too conservative down the stretch, but I banked off some earlier birdies and fortunate it was enough to come out on top.”

Downes finished with six birdies against two bogeys and was largely in solid position throughout his round. He was 1-under through four holes, made a medium range putt at No. 7, and dropped a putt beyond 60 feet at the par-3 ninth to go out in 33. He got to 5 under with birdies at Nos. 10 and 13 before a bogey on the last.

Despite being the favorite, Downes was not concerned about added pressure trying to win on his home track. He lost to Hingham’s Carson Erick — who played in the same group Tuesday and tied for third with a 75 — in the Massachusetts Junior Amateur semifinals this summer, also at GreatHorse.

“Personally, I didn’t feel too much pressure. I’m kind of used to a lot of these situations, especially taking from the Mass. Am last year (reaching the finals) and this year,” Downes said. “I kind of just treat it as another event, and with that mentality it’s a lot easier to be relaxed and play well.”

The Catholic Conference showed that its league and teams are the deepest in the state, sweeping the top three places with St. John’s (Shrewsbury) winning with a four-man total of 303 followed by St. John’s Prep (314) and Xaverian (315).

The Pioneers won their first state title since 2012 by having five scores of 77 or better. In the No. 1 position, senior Nic Gebhardt grinded his way despite not making a birdie until the 15th. He and No. 4 Ronan Mooney each carded 75s.

“We haven’t won a banner in 11 years. We’ve had some really good teams the past three years, we got fourth my sophomore year and second last year,” Gebhardt said. “We had only one more place to go, and that was first.”

Terry Manning paced St. John’s Prep with a 76, which also got a 77 from Seamus O’Halloran and 78 from Tripp Hollister.

Connor Walsh had a 77 from the No. 4 position for Xaverian while Sean Resnick and Thomas Constantine carded 79s.