Hawken finished second at Monday’s Division II sectional golf tournament at Quail Hollow Country Club in Concord to earn a spot in next week’s district tournament.
NDCL won the sectional title with a 303 while Hawken finished second with a 338.
“I’m glad we qualified because we didn’t really play up to our potential,” said Hawken coach Bert Kovarik. “I didn’t think anybody did except for NDCL. The conditions were a little bit strange and it was pretty windy.”
Drew Covitt led the Hawks with an 82. Thomas Hill and Thomas Wong both shot 85 and Jack Gole rounded out the scoring with an 86. Zach Rutherford also competed for the Hawks. He finished with a 109.
“Gole shot an 86, which is well over his average, but we got by CVCA by one stroke and the other contenders were Chagrin Falls and Kirtland and we got in ahead of them,” Kovarik said. “This is our third straight year going to districts. Our hope and our goal is to make the next step and make it to state. Gole made it to state the last two years as an individual and we’re hoping to get the team there this year.”
Berkshire’s Forrest Kuchling and Chagrin Falls’ Harrison White both advanced to districts as one of the top three individuals not on a qualifying team.
Kuchling finished third overall to punch his ticket to districts.
“I am very relieved to have qualified,” said Kuchling, who shot a 78. “It has always been a goal of mine to make it to the state tournament. I am now one step closer.”
Kuchling was very cautious in his approach to the sectional tournament. He played smart golf and didn’t take any unnecessary risks.
That strategy paid off and now he’s planning to do whatever it takes at districts to extend his season by one more week.
“I want to go out there and be aggressive,” Kuchling said of his plans for the district tournament. “Limiting my mistakes is a key, too many will give me no chance. I am very familiar with the golf course and I know I can score well there. I know I will have pre-round butterflies, but this is what it’s all about. I will be ready. I have had a great four years of preparation for this exact moment.”
Chagrin Falls finished in fourth place as a team but White extended his season by shooting an 83, good for 10th place overall and the final individual district qualification spot.
“Harrison is very excited to have qualified for districts,” said Chagrin Falls coach Anne Caja. “However, he said it is bittersweet because he was hoping to have his teammates going with him.”
White shot near even par on 15 of the 18 holes but struggled a bit on the greens and missed some other opportunities to shave strokes from his score.
“I was pleased with how he handled a tough break and lie he had on the 15th hole and refocused to finish well on the 17th and 18th holes–two difficult finishing holes, especially with the wind we had today,” Caja said. “I know Harrison is happy to be moving on but really would have loved for the whole team to be going with him.”
Kirtland finished fifth as a team while Perry was seventh, West Geauga placed eighth, Orange finished ninth, Berkshire was 10th, Cardinal placed 11th and Wickliffe finished 12th.
Also finishing among the top 25 individuals were Cardinal’s Jonathan Heredos and Kirtland’s Seann McGill, who both shot an 85, Chagrin Falls’ Clark Reboul, who finished tied for 16th with an 86, Kirtland’s Jack Dever, who was 18th with an 87, Chagrin Falls’ Luca Opperman and Scotty McCormac, who both shot an 88 to tie for 20th, Kirtland’s Adam Mueller, who finished 22nd with an 89, Perry’s Nick Carnovale and Nate Cubbison, who finished 23rd with a 90 and 25th with a 91, respectively, and Chagrin Falls’ Winston Breeden, who shot a 91 to finish tied for 25th.
Sectional Tournament: Division II Boys – Quail Hollow
Quail Hollow Country Club – September 24, 2018
Qualifiers: Top 3 teams and 3 individuals not on a qualifying team
Team Place: * Indicates qualifying team
1. NDCL* 303 (Arya Achar 71, Aditya Achar 76, Zander Gibson 78, Danny Milo 78, Jakob Flynn 78); 2. Hawken* 338 (Jack Gole 86, Drew Covitt 82, Thomas Hill 85, Thomas Wong 85, Zach Rutherford 109); 3. CVCA* 339 (Caden Scarbrough 84, Christian Beckett 87, Andrew Golembiewski 78, Blake Bolinski 90, Andrew Hendrickx 93); 4. Chagrin Falls 345; 5. Kirtland 363; 6. Edgewood 380; 7. Perry 397; 8. West Geauga 400; 9. Orange 403; 10. Berkshire 403; 11. Cardinal 421; 12. Wickliffe 456; 13. Jefferson Area 458; 14. Conneaut 495.
Individual Scores: * Indicates qualifying individual
1. Arya Achar(NDCL) 71; 2. Aditya Achar(NDCL) 76; 3. Forrest Kuchling*(Berkshire) 78, Andrew Golembiewski(CVCA) 78, Zander Gibson(NDCL) 78, Danny Milo(NDCL) 78, Jakob Flynn(NDCL) 78; 8. Dylan Fitchet*(Edgewood) 80; 9. Drew Covitt(Hawken) 82; 10. Harrison White*(Chagrin Falls) 83; 11. Caden Scarbrough(CVCA) 84; 12. Jonathan Heredos(Cardinal) 85, Thomas Hill(Hawken) 85, Thomas Wong(Hawken) 85, Seann McGill(Kirtland) 85; 16. Clark Reboul(Chagrin Falls) 86, Jack Gole(Hawken) 86; 18. Christian Beckett(CVCA) 87, Jack Dever(Kirtland) 87; 20. Luca Opperman(Chagrin Falls) 88, Scotty McCormack(Chagrin Falls) 88; 22. Adam Mueller(Kirtland) 89; 23. Blake Bolinski(CVCA) 90, Nick Carnovale(Perry) 90; 25. Winston Breeden(Chagrin Falls) 91, Nate Cubbison(Perry) 91; 27. Andrew Hendrickx(CVCA) 93; 28. Armen Maksoudian(West Geauga) 95; 29. Jackson Fellinger(Orange) 97; 30. Jack Stover(Orange) 98; 31. Ryan Green(Edgewood) 99; 32. Max Crooks(Edgewood) 100, Aidan Garvey(West Geauga) 100, Andrew Michalski(Wickliffe) 100; 35. Kevin Hammitt(Cardinal) 101, Hunter Johnston(Edgewood) 101; 37. Matt Speece(Kirtland) 102, Mason Kirchner(West Geauga) 102; 39. Malachi Lors(Conneaut) 103, Dawson Goss(Orange) 103, Gavin Jean(Perry) 103, Alex Lavin(West Geauga) 103; 43. Travis Johnson(West Geauga) 104; 44. Caden Neumore(Berkshire) 105, Brock Bean(Jefferson Area) 105, Alex Proels(Orange) 105; 47. Mason Mulacek(Berkshire) 106, Dylan Fedor(Conneaut) 106; 49. Kyle Haddon(Orange) 108; 50. Zach Rutherford(Hawken) 109; 51. Daniel Heredos(Cardinal) 111, Reese Van Arnhem(Kirtland) 111, Calvin Cackowski(Wickliffe) 111; 54. Brad Peters(Perry) 113; 55. Alex Mulacek(Berkshire) 114; 56. Dominic Paolillo(Edgewood) 115, Casey Clark(Jefferson Area) 115; 58. Jacob Culliton(Perry) 118; 59. Zach Ashba(Jefferson Area) 119, Chase Pascarella(Jefferson Area) 119; 61. Robbie Veri(Wickliffe) 120; 62. Mitchell Samas(Cardinal) 124; 63. Andrew Young(Berkshire) 125, Mario Cefaratti(Wickliffe) 125; 65. J.T. Vendetti(Conneaut) 127; 66. Ryan Laitinen(Conneaut) 159; 67. Broderick Linderman(Wickliffe) 190; 68. Ethan Butcher(Jefferson Area) DQ.
