Talented Tigers Take Title
Sensational sophomore Jonny Hollar helped No. 2 Warsaw win its own Joe Harris Shootout Tuesday (Photos by Jim Harris)
WARSAW – Warsaw boys golf coach Ben Barkey, as usual, was more concerned about the big picture Tuesday than an invitational championship.
It turned out that his talented team took care of both.
Senior standout Jon Schram led the way as No. 2 Warsaw shot 305 to win the title of the nine-team Joe Harris Invitational.
Schram fired a two-over round of 72 to earn medalist honors on a warm and windy day at the Rozella Ford Golf Club.
No. 14 NorthWood, which had beaten the Tigers 305-313 Saturday to win the Wawasee Invitational title, finished second Tuesday with a 308.
Triton, led by a round of 73 from ace Quentyn Carpenter, placed third with a 317.
Senior Tim Ahlersmeyer shot 79 for the champion Tigers Tuesday.
The Tigers won their first invitational of the season after placing second to No. 1 Columbus North by two strokes and one stroke earlier this season at a pair of big tournaments in the Hall of Fame at Peru and the Spring Preview at The Legends in Franklin.
“It’s good to win, but we’re focused on improving and growing as a team right now,” said the always thoughtful Barkey, who guided the perennial power Tigers to a sixth-place finish at the State Finals in 2012. “This was just a great opportunity today to play in a great event.
“We didn’t talk to the guys about winning our own invite or anything like that. We talked about what we needed to do today and what we needed to execute. We talked about being champion of this shot and winning this shot, not the tournament.
“We still need to sharpen some things and tweak some things because of a lack of practice so far. But, these guys are determined to grow. We’re focused on growth. I have a faith and I believe in all of these guys.”
Schram, who shot 79 Saturday, was happy to see his team on top of the final leader board.
“I’m really happy with our team,” said Schram, who will play at Ball State. “It’s been frustrating to finish second and finally it’s really good to be first. I think once all of us click at the same time it’s going to be good.
“It was a good day for me today. My putting was horrible coming in and I was struggling with my confidence there. I made 4-5 putts over 30 feet today and was like how did that go in? I kind of feel like I’ve struggled all the way through so far this season.”
The Tigers shot six strokes better than last Wednesday when they beat Triton 311-313 at Rozella in cold and windy conditions. Schram led Warsaw on that day with a 73.
Sophomore Jonny Hollar shot 76 and senior Tim Ahlersmeyer 77 for the champion Tigers. Sophomore Ryan Cultice came in at 80 and senior brother Evan shot an 82.
Ryan Rapp blasts out of the sand for Triton Tuesday. Rapp shot a 75 as the Trojans captured third place.
Carpenter, who shot 70 on his home course at Rozella versus Warsaw last week, led the Trojans. The Ball State bound senior shot 73.
Triton coach Jack Carpenter, who watched his team shoot 308 Saturday to dominate the Marshall County Championships at Mystic Hills in Culver, was not overly impressed with the overall effort of his squad.
“It wasn’t good,” said coach Carpenter. “We had flashes of good from our No. 1, 2 and 3, but our finishes were not good. You always hope to improve and we were a little worse tonight (four strokes) than last week against Warsaw here.
“Quentyn was one under with five holes left and finishes three over. He was poor off the tee tonight. Ryan only hit eight greens, but did a good job getting up and down. Those two push each other. Our No. 5 guy (Greg Music) shot 42 the final nine and I can live with that from a freshman.”
Ryan Rapp shot a 75 for the Trojans, while Tanner Shepherd carded an 80. Greg Music fired an 89 and Lucas Shafer a 95 for Triton.
Wawasee finished in sixth place Tuesday with a 323. The Warriors, who shot 334 in their own invite Saturday at South Shore, were led by a 79 from freshman Jeffrey Moore.
Freshman Jeffrey Moore led Wawasee with a 79 Tuesday at Rozella Ford.
“Overall, I’m pretty happy,” said Wawasee coach Steve Coverstone. “Jeffrey had a good round and did his job. I like the fact that we had four scores that were pretty good.
“We just need to get a couple of guys shooting in the mid 70’s for us and we’ll be very near where we need to be. We know we have guys who can shoot low. We didn’t finish well tonight and we need to work on finishing our rounds better.
“We had 19 or more double bogeys on Saturday as I stopped counting. You can’t do that. We wanted to cut down on those tonight and we did that. I thought we met a lot of our goals tonight.”
Sophomore Tristen Atwood and senior Luke Jackson each shot 81 for the Warriors. Sophomore Mason Germunprez shot an 82 and senior Dylan Cousins an 88 for Wawasee.
Warsaw’s Orange team, made up of its JV players, shot 322 Tuesday. Sophomores Brandon Eckert and Josh Ahlersmeyer led the team as each shot 79. Junior Will Petro fired an 80, sophomore Reid Cameron 84 and freshman Jacob Foster 87.
Dylan Gessinger and Payton Grubbs each shot a 75 to lead runner-up NorthWood. Gessinger had fired a three-under 69 on Saturday to take medalist honors at the Wawasee Invite for the champion Panthers.
Warsaw competes Saturday in the Homestead Invitational at Orchard Ridge. Wawasee will host Tippecanoe Valley Wednesday at South Shore. Triton hosts Culver, Bremen and Oregon-Davis Thursday at Rozella Ford.
Joe Harris Shootout
At Rozella Ford Golf Club (par 70)
Team Scores
Warsaw Black 305, NorthWood 308, Triton 317, Warsaw Orange 322, Plymouth 322, Wawasee 323, Fort Wayne Canterbury 327, Wabash 346, Rochester 371.
Warsaw Black (305)
Jon Schram 72, Jonny Hollar 76, Tim Ahlersmeyer 77, Ryan Cultice 80, Evan Cultice 82.
NorthWood (308)
Dylan Gessinger 75, Payton Grubbs 75, Logan Kauffman 79, Ryan Thompson 85, Brayden Glaser 79.
Triton (317)
Quentyn Carpenter 73, Ryan Rapp 75, Tanner Shepherd 80, Lucas Shafer 95, Greg Music 89.
Warsaw Orange (322)
Will Petro 80, Brandon Eckert 79, Josh Ahlersmeyer 79, Jacob Foster 87, Reid Cameron 84.
Plymouth (322)
Nate Kolter 77, Ben Schenk 74, Zach Craft 84, Kendall Fosler 90, Kurt Corsbie 87.
Wawasee (323)
Tristen Atwood 81, Dylan Cousins 88, Luke Jackson 81, Jeffrey Moore 79, Mason Germunprez 82.
Canterbury (327)
Trent VanHorn 77, Trevor Uhl 87, Ethan Brinkman 80, Chris Noe 83, Christian Kreiger 90.
Wabash (346)
Jordan Blair 82, Jack Leland 82, Parker Harner 93, Josh Provance 89, Brodie Hough 96.
Rochester (371)
Luke Cannedy 85, Markis Smiley 101, Aaron Orr 91, Alex Denny 98, Noah Roberts 97.
Warsaw won the Joe Harris Shootout Tuesday at Rozella Ford. The champs (from left) are Jon Schram, Evan Cultice, Jonny Hollar, Tim Ahlersmeyer and coach Ben Barkey. Not pictured is Ryan Cultice (Photo by Scott Davidson)
