Sports
Rams Sweep PAC-10 Top Honors, Five Qualify for Districts
Gilmartin (70) and Detwieler (72) led the way through soggy Gilbertsville GC
The PAC-10 Singles Championship has taken on a personality of its own over the past five seasons as the best golfers in the area hit the links at Gilbertsville Golf Club vying for the Pioneer Athletic Conference Championship and a berth in the PIAA District One Tournament to be held at in Limerick.
With conditions more resembling a course in the Amazon river shed, annoying wildlife, more specifically the gnats that have made themselves so at home in our area; soggy fairways, which snagged their share of balls with perspective great drives being gobbled up by the turf; to the unforgiving soaking wet rough - the only saving grace was that the golfers were able to give themselves relief by plucking balls out of the mud and replacing them.
With the top 18 boys finishers guaranteed a spot in the District One field and girls scoring under 97 getting the invite, the day got underway around 8:45 a.m.
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swept top honors winning both the boys and girls titles with Maddie Gilmartin, who shot 70, claiming the girls championship for the second year in a row and sophomore Bennett Detwieler leading the way for the boys with a round of 72 winning the first major title in his career.
The Limerick area was well represented and has five players overall that have qualified for districts with three boys and two girls getting the invite to the elite field featuring the best in the area.
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Detwieler kept the ball in play all day but it was his eagle on number nine that gave him the boost he needed to claim the hardware.
Following a drive which he left just ten yards short of the pond, Detwiler holed out an eight iron from about 145 yards to snag an eagle and drew him to even par at the time.
“Even though it was really wet the course played great,” said Detwieler, who had the added excitement of being the leader in the clubhouse as he waited for the remaining cards to be turned in. “It’s a little nerve racking waiting but it’s also exciting. I came here wanting to qualify for districts. To win the PAC-10 is awesome. It will probably sink in later tonight.”
For , all seven boys broke the century marks and Cole Bernsteil just missed qualifying with a round of 84, followed closely by John Oczypok, who posted a loop of 88.
On the ladies side of the docket, the Rams led by Gilmartin’s 70 got a sold round out of who shot 92 along with a 98 by Alyssa Cominsky who just missed the cut by one stroke.
“Last year I was really nervous here and today I wasn’t,” said Gilmartin. ”Winning it back to back is awesome, but I really want to focus now on districts and qualifying for states. It was an interesting day out there today, the lift rule really helped it was pretty muddy.”
District qualifiers boys
Score Player School 72 Detwieler, B SF 73 Melnick, C MT 75 Vance, R MT 75 Foley, J SF 76 Neikam, B PG 76 Hamilton MT 77 Wolbach, R BT 77 Keim, T SF 77 Wintsch, Z OJR 77 Foley, M MT 77 Kriebel, D UP 78 Vance, B MT 78 Green, C PV 78 Bierer, M PX 80 Hennelly, A OJR 82 Saxon, L BT 82 Keffer, T OJR 82 Leech, J PX
Boys Scores
Spring-Ford
Anthony Barbine 90 Jack Corney 91 Bennett Detweiler 72 John Foley 75 Tyler Kiem 77 Steve Palazzolo 84 Eric Rowell 85 Andrew Zimmerman 86
Pope John Paul II Cole Bernsteil 84 Connor Delaney 90 John Dutcher 96 Bailey High 90 Kevin Horst 96 John Oczypok 88 Geoff Nasuti 97
Ladies scores
Spring-Ford
Alyssa Cominsky 98 Danielle Freed 92 Madison Gilmartin 70 Jen Jordan 122 Mikayla Koenck 106 Christina Nacarrati 106 Tierny Seufer 111Pope John Paul II
Colleen Dychdala 105
