DARLINGTON — Crawfordsville and Southmont got a small taste of what the Sagamore Conference meet will be like on Saturday as the Athenians and Mounties competed in a four-team meet against Lebanon and Western Boone at Rocky Ridge Golf Course on Thursday.
In the four-team meet Southmont came away with the win by shooting a 173. Nolan Allen and Luke Tesmer both led the Mounties by carding 42s. Harrison Haddock shot a 44 and Micah Korhorn rounded out the scorecard with 45.
The Athenians placed second behind Southmont with a 181. Luke Ranard took home medalist honors with a low score of 38. Landon Timmons shot a 46, Hayden Jeffries a 47, and Braxton ended with a 50.
Western Boone ended in third place with a 184 and Lebanon carded a 188 to place fourth.
Southmont comes into the meet as one of the favorites to compete for the conference title. If the Mounties do indeed place first on Saturday, it would be their first conference title since 2000. Coach Bill Whalen knows his team has a lot of depth and versatility and that’s something that’s helped the Mounties have such good success this season.
“All of our scores were between 42 and 45 tonight,” he said. “If we can do that again on Saturday I think we’ll be in good shape. We have a number that we want to shoot for and if we hit that and place last then so be it. We can’t control what the other teams do, we can only control how we play.
Many of the Mounties are getting their first taste of varsity experience as three of their top five players are sophomores this season. That hasn’t stopped them from finding success and Whalen is loving what he’s seeing from his young group.
“Many of these guys are getting their first experience of playing competitive high school golf and I’m really happy with what they’ve done this season. All of them are great kids and they’ve put in the work and it’s paying off.”
“We still have a few things we want to get cleaned up heading into Saturday. Two of our top guys had a triple bogey and if we clean that up we shoot in the 160’s where is what we wanted to shoot tonight.”
Crawfordsville will be looking for their first conference crown since 2004 and led by Luke Ranard, the Athenians are in position to do just that. Coach Tom Perkins feels good where his team is heading into Saturday.
“We’re right in the mix with and I’m pleased with where we’re at,” he said. “Anything can happen in golf and we’re looking forward to a fun meet. Hayden went from a 117 at the Covington invite to shooting a 47 today and that was the difference for us tonight. Someone else is stepping up every week and we feel good. We still do have some putting woes that we’ll have to clean up, but overall, I was pleased.”
Perkins also took the time to praise Ranard who will look to help guide his team a conference title.
“He turned a corner tonight,” Perkins said of Ranard. “Playing against all of the number ones, he stood up to the challenge and birdied the last hole to win the medalist. That’s what he needs to do, and that performance gave him some big-time confidence. He feels like he should be the medalist again on Saturday.”
The Chargers will head into the conference meet as young team. Coach Nick Johnson has liked what he has seen from his squad the last couple of weeks and isn’t focused on a placement at the conference meet, but just sees this as another chance to improve.
“We usually have two or three good scores from our guys, but then we have to take a not so good score on the back end of our lineup,” he said. “I just want us to show up and play a good round. Playing on our home course will help a little bit I think, but just like everybody else we have to come ready to play.”
The Chargers are looking for their first conference title.
The conference meet will get underway at Rocky Ridge golf course on Saturday morning.
