Hawken’s success in the Chagrin Valley Conference preseason tournament and during the dual match season left Independence’s golf team focused on winning the CVC postseason tournament.
The Blue Devils came up a bit short on Monday as Kirtland shot a 346 to beat Independence for the team title by 14 strokes. Independence finished the year second to Hawken in the final CVC standings.
“I knew we didn’t have a chance of winning the league title but our goal was to win the tournament today,” said Independence coach Mark Echstenkamper. “We just came up short. We didn’t play very well today.”
Tyler Wilson shot a team-best 83 to finish third while Nick Brunsman tied for fourth with an 84. Both earned first team all-conference honors despite competing with each other throughout the season for the league points earned during each dual.
“They had a great year,” Echstenkamper said. “They both played some really great golf. The problem was they were competing against each other for the points. Each dual match they were competing for points against each other. That kind of hurt them the way it worked out. When you’re clearly the top golfer on your team you don’t have that competition for the CVC points in the dual matches. It was kind of a double-edged sword for those guys. I was happy to see them both get first team. They deserve it.”
Andrew Teribery closed out the league tournament with a solid 88.
“The last half of the season he has been one of our most consistent golfers,” Echstenkamper said. “Going into sectionals next week he’s clearly our third golfer right now. We just need a fourth scorer and we’ll have a good chance to get out of sectionals.”
Joe Zamborsky finished the tournament with a 103 while Bobby Roddy and Joe Rydsynski shot 105 and 110, respectively.
Independence will compete in the sectional tournament on Wednesday, Sept. 30.
