WHEELING — The opening round of the 2023 WVSSAC state golf tournament was held Tuesday at Speidel Golf Club at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling. The Morgantown Mohigans and the University Hawks both competed in the first round having qualified as the two representatives out of Region 1.
After the first round, UHS sits in sixth place overall in the team standings with a score of 254 on the day. The bright spot for the Hawks came from Adam Argabrite who tallied a total of 79 on the day, which has him tied for ninth on the leaderboard, eight strokes back of the leader Tommy Evans from Washington at even par.
“Adam played well today for our low score,” UHS head coach Barry Kolar said. “I told them that getting here is an accomplishment in itself but you always want to go to the next level, and we will come back to try and have a strong second round. The course played tough today and sometimes it isn’t your day.”
MHS carded a team total of 242 in the opening round, which has the Mohigans sitting fourth in the standings, eight strokes behind the leading Washington Patriots at 234.
“We suffered a little on the front nine, which all played really tough (Tuesday),” MHS head coach Joel Barrett said. “The swagger started coming back around off of 18 and then they played the remaining holes very well and I think we got our groove back. We found some birdies late in the round and left ourselves with something we can deal with tomorrow.”
Mohigan sophomore Solas Chhin-Kreiner fired a team-high 76 on the day that sees him sitting in fourth place overall in the individual standings, just five strokes behind Evans who leads with a 71.
“Solas was in a really good group who all played really good golf and that helped him elevate his game a bit,” Barrett said. “He was knocking down 10-foot putts and that’s what happens when you’re watching good golf. We gave away some putts on the par fives today and ended up 6-over or so on those holes and that’s a target for tomorrow.”
Chhin-Kreiner will play in the final group of the day today teeing off at 10:50 a.m. along with Jack Michael from Cabell Midland, Savannah Hawkins of Hurricane, and Evans from Washington who currently leads the Class AAA individual competition.
The Hawks and Mohigans will each tee off on the front nine to begin the final round this morning. UHS will begin at 9:30 a.m. with Landon Spiker, followed by Daniel Grabo at 9:40 a.m., Owen Estel at 9:50 a.m., and Argabrite at 10 a.m.
Morgantown will begin with Andrew Sheets at 10:20 a.m., followed by Gabe Watson at 10:30 a.m., and Braxton Martucci at 10:40 a.m. with Chhin-Kreiner rounding out the day with the final grouping at 10:50 a.m.
