DARLINGTON — Crawfordsville and Southmont have been neck and neck the entire spring on the golf course. That would be no different on Monday as all three Montgomery County teams concluded the 2022 Sagamore Conference golf meet at Rocky Ridge Golf Course after play had been suspended due to rain on Saturday. When all was said and the strokes were tallied it was the Mounties who would edge out CHS by a single stroke for third place with a 347 as the Athenians would end with a 348 and finish fourth. North Montgomery continues to improve and had a strong showing finishing just eight strokes behind CHS for fifth with a 356. Western Boone took home the conference title with a 336 and Lebanon took second by shooting a 344.
Leading the way for the Mounties was junior Nolan Allen who carded an 80 who earned First-Team All-Conference with his performance. Harrison Haddock carded an 85 and also placed on the All-SAC first team. Luke Tesmer shot ended the evening with an 86 which earned him a spot on the All-SAC second team. Ty Elles carded a 96 and Carson McKinney fired a 107 for the Mounties.
“Nolan and I came with 330 and knew that was an aggressive number for us to shoot coming in,” Southmont coach Bill Whalen said. “We ran into some big numbers on some holes that cost us. If we cut those numbers down we would’ve had a chance. This course isn’t easy and there are some holes that can get you into trouble and we unfortunately ran into a few of them. Hopefully our kids will use this as a little motivation for the rest of the season because we have county coming up next Thursday then the sectional is shortly after that.”
Crawfordsville who defeated the Mounties earlier in the season at their own Invitational saw their county rival finish just a single stroke better. Luke Ranard led the Athenians with an 82 which earned him nod on the All-SAC first team. Landon Timmons carded an 84 as he joined Ranard on the All-Conference squad. Tanner Gilland shot an 87 to earn a spot on the All-SAC second team. Landon Hurt shot a 95 and Hayden Jeffries rounded out the scoring for CHS with a 97.
Athenian coach Tom Perkins was a little disappointed with his team’s score as the Athenians were expected to come in and contend for the SAC crown, but also gave the teams above CHS their props for a well played meet.
“Those top three scores a slightly above what they normally shoot, but it was a real competitive field,” he said. “I have to tip my cap to both Southmont and Lebanon. They both played better than us and deserve to be in those spots. It’s so much fun getting to come out here and compete against Bill and the Mounties and even Bob (Ryker) and the Chargers who are getting much better. They’re going to be a factor in the county race next week. We’re still in a good place with the important meets coming up.”
North Montgomery shot their best score they had all season in an 18-hole meet with their 356. They placed four on the All-Conference second team as Hayden Turner’s 86, Drew Norman’s 88, Alex Chapman’s 90, and Haze Kashon’s 92 all was good enough to earn All-Conference honors. Neal Jeffrey rounded out the scoring for the Chargers with a 101. First-year coach Bob Ryker was happy with his team’s performance, but isn’t satisfied as he wants his Charger team to keep improving with the end of the season in sight.
“These kids have put in a lot of work and all of the credit goes to them,” he said. “They grind and have gotten better each and every day. We were trying to get a top three spot. That would’ve meant so much to this program since we haven’t had that in a long time. The back side is a little tougher out here and caused some problems for us, but I’m extremely proud of them with how they played.”
