MORGANTOWN — The clouds were rolling over the hills of The Pines Country Club on Monday as four teams, including two local schools, battled each other to kick off the 2022 fall sports season. Morgantown, University, Buckhannon-Upshur and North Marion were all represented.
Twenty-four total golfers took to the challenging course in The Pines. Six groups all began from the first tee of the course each with four players, all playing the full 18-hole course.
UHS’s Landon Spiker was the one to post the lowest score of the day coming in at a 78. He was followed by Gabriel Watson of MHS who shot one stroke greater than Spiker, at 79. They would be the only players below 80 on the day.
Despite having Spiker as the lowest scorer, UHS finished second to its rival in MHS. The Hawks finished with a team total of 339, 12 strokes behind the Mohigans, who posted a score of 327 as a team.
One thing that stood out as a huge difference maker for MHS was the ability of each team member to shoot below a score of 90 on the day, including only two of those scores being over 85. Braxton Martucci was the highest finishing player for MHS at 88. Head coach Joel Barrett knows that consistency is key for his team and will serve them well going forward.
“We are a very solid, consistent team and have very good chemistry,” Barrett said. “They play a lot of golf together and the scores from today show the consistency of that.”
The Mohigan golfers all seemed to specialize in a different area of the game. Someone like Brody Davis, recent basketball state champion, has a lot of power of the tee and is able to take advantage of that at a longer course like The Pines, making his second shot much shorter than some of his opponents.
UHS also played well as a team, being hindered by a couple scores that were 99 and 106. Only being behind MHS by 12 strokes shows that the Hawks can also be a contender in the region this season just as Barrett thinks his team can be.
“We are hopeful for a good season and expect to be a contender in our region,” he said. “Hopefully we can earn a trip to the state championship in October.”
Morgantown will travel to Bridgeport on Tuesday for a match against Bridgeport and John Marshall. University will travel to Woodbridge Country Club to face off against Parkersburg South on Tuesday.
Full scores for each player can be found as follows:
Morgantown High: 327
Brody Davis (86), Solas Chinn-Kreiner (84), Braxton Martucci (88), Avery McMillen (84), Gabriel Watson (79), Andrew Sheets (80)
University High: 339
Landon Spiker (78), Daniel Grabo (84), Zach Harman (90), Adam Argabrite (87), Olivia Cox (99), Brayden Filburn (106)
North Marion: 374
Will Lemasters (92), Garrett Stanley (99), Spencer Parrish (90), Brady Anderson (93), Logan McCartney (115), Sawyer Perkins (123)
Buckhannon Upshur: 388
Easton Perkins (104), Tucker Burr (109), Jaden Westfall (92), Javon Westfall (105), Jesse Hackett (119), Parker Lockwood (87)
