Roundup: Sheridan, John Glenn golfers come up big
WILLIAMSPORT — Even with its No. 1 man uncharacteristically struggling, Sheridan's all-senior contingent had more than enough to make the state golf tournament on Wednesday.
Reed Coconis' 90 out of the top spot was well above his season average, but his teammates picked up the slack as a 331 was four shots better than Gallipolis Gallia Academy in the Division II Southeast District tournament at Crown Hill.
Blake Turnes fired a front-nine 37 en route to a 78, Cooper Winders had matching 40s during an 80 and Cael Dowdell had 83 for the Generals, who won the district title and will play next Friday and Saturday at Ohio State's Scarlet Course.
Gallia, which got 76 from Laith Hand and Beau Johnson, but no other scores better than 87, also qualified as a team. Two teams and individuals from non-qualifying teams advanced.
Vincent Warren was third (345), Proctorville Fairland fourth (351) and Chillicothe Unioto fifth (356). Warren's Edward Kehl, a senior, was overall medalist with 74. He and Wheelersburg's Brady Gill, won a four-hole sudden death playoff against Piketon's Owen Armstrong and Warren's John Wharton, all of whom shot 82, grabbed the two individual spots.
Knowing prior to the season that two teams would advance, in part because it dropped into Division II, the Generals' veteran lineup knew it had the goods to make a run at Columbus if the cards fell in their favor.
They did it at a historically difficult venue, one that hasn't been kind to Sheridan often. It wasn't kind to Coconis, who had 77 at the sectional at Chillicothe Jaycees, but struggled with a back-nine 48 on Wednesday.
"I knew the whole year that we hadn't matched up yet," Coconis said. "There would be two scores decent and two bad, and today I didn't play well, but all of my teammates picked me up."
Sheridan coach Mike Midkiff echoed that.
"If you would have told me that Reed would shoot 90 and we'd still be able to make it, I'd say we would have made it but we wouldn't have been able to win it," Midkiff said. "We knew other guys could step up. We haven't played our best all year and today the other guys showed they could play some golf, too.
"I told them we were the team to beat," Midkiff added. "On paper we were by far the best team and I think they went out of proved that."
Turnes and Winders led the way, but Dowdell's score was equally vital. He just picked the game up last year and was shooting in the 60s for nine holes when he started.
Wednesday indicated he has made up considerable ground.
"For him in one year to accomplish what he has is amazing," Midkiff said.
Turnes has endured his share of inconsistency this season, but he kept the train on the rails on day few did. Only four players shot better than 80.
"Blake has always played well here," Coconis said. "He hasn't played well this year, but he's capable of scoring well. He has been playing well leading up to this. Coop has been too."
John Glenn impresses at EagleSticks: The Muskingum Valley League's Big School champions saved one of their best performances for the Division I sectional at EagleSticks, where the Muskies rolled to a runner-up finish.
Junior Owen Van Fossen shot 75, junior Braden Rice 77, sophomore Noah Dever 79 and freshman C.J. Dolan 79. The Muskies were the only team among the 12 in the field to have four scores in the 70s.
John Glenn advanced to the power-packed district on Tuesday at Apple Valley, just outside of Howard in Knox County, where some of the state's top programs will be in attendance.
"My mom read me a book as a kid called 'The Little Engine That Could,'" John Glenn coach Chad Orecchio said. "That's kind of what we are. We've got 275 boys in the school playing against schools with 1,200-1,500 boys. It's pretty remarkable. I don't know if that has happened around here in any sport. The nice thing is all five of the kids are back."
Wednesday's event featured a combination of Central, East and Southeast District teams, as the East and Southeast no longer have their own sectionals.
John Glenn's 310 from the gold tees was one of six teams to break 320. Only Marietta (306), led by medalist A.J. Graham's even-par 70 and Grayson Herb's 74, shot better than the Muskies.
Marietta and John Glenn grabbed two of the three qualifying spots with Columbus DeSales, which was third with 312 and advanced on a fifth-score playoff against rival Central Catholic League rival Watterson.
Thomas Worthington's Jack Flores shot 73 to claim one of the three individual qualifying spots. Pickerington North's Tyler Brockwell and Watterson's Jonah Altiero and Deacon Pinson had 74, with Brockwell and Altiero nabbing the other two spots in a playoff.
Orecchio said his team took the Division I challenge personally, as they felt collectively overlooked by the Columbus teams. Ironically, a Southeast and East District team claimed the top two scores.
Orecchio said the team overall avoided disastrous scores that can undo good rounds and end seasons.
"They battled their tails off and we knew we had to play well — that's obvious in Division I," Orecchio said. "You've got Columbus teams coming in so you can't be average. We play well at EagleSticks. We have had some of our best team scores at EagleSticks. It's a good for us. We thought the local knowledge would be able to help us. We've got a nice team that's capable."
Girls Golf
Mortimer top 10 at Cambridge Philo junior Brianna Mortimer shot 88 to tie for 10th among 34 players at the girls Division II district at Cambridge Country Club.
Mortimer tied Claymont's Alivia Edwards. She was the top finishing MVL player, placing just ahead of River View's Paige Nicely (90), who was 12th, and teammate Kortnee Mickle (97), who was 20th.
Garaway, led by medalist Sammi Miller's 73, won the event with 324 to claim the only qualifying spot as a team. The Pirates had four scores of 87 or better.
Carrollton was second (365), Zoarville Tuscarawas Valley third (382), River View fourth (391) and Claymont fifth (420). St. Clairsville freshman Olivia Baker claimed the long individual qualifying spot with a 77, one of only two scores in the 70s.
Cross Country
Ruthers third in Backwoods 2-mile race: Sheridan sophomore Tate Ruthers was third among 271 runners in the Boys "Under the Lights" Race at the Backwoods 2-mile race in Thornville.
Ruthers finished in 9:45.2, trailing only Fairfield Union senior Marcus Runkle (9:23.6) and Sunbury Big Walnut's Eli Lengl (9:44.4), who was runner-up.
Sheridan's Simon Conrad was 15th (10:05.5) and teammates John Skinner 22nd (10:13.0), Raine Rodich 24th (10:24.2) and Isaiah Brown 42nd (10:41.4).
John Glenn's Kody Clendenning was seventh (9:53.5), while Caiden Lake was 28th (10:28.3), Braylon Buchanan 29th (10:28.9), Ian Davis 54th (10:52.9) and Isaac Duran 65th (11:03.3).
Tri-Valley's Dalton Crozier was 36th (10:38.1), William Dearing 90th (11:13.7), Ethan Dusenberry 193rd (12:41.3) and Ben Kennedy 231st (13:26.3).
Morgan's Cody Young was 61st (11:00.0), Nelson Trayton 152nd (11:57.9), Alejandro Cabrera 178th (12:20.1), Jude Garber 224th (13:12.5) and Clayton Blackburn 252nd (14:09.2).
New Lexington's Zander Miller was 136th (11:42.5), Eli McCord 190th (12:30.6) and Cole Furbee 245th (13:47.8); Nathan Dyer was 247th (13:53.5) and Denver Dyer 249th (13:56.2) for Crooksville.
River View's Drew Tumblin was 26th (10:26.2), Trey Skjold 110th (11:25.7), Landon Cochran 122nd (11:34.5) and Aiden Stevens-Woolery 130th (11:38.2).
In the girls race, Sheridan was fourth with 162 points and John Glenn seventh with 183 in a race won by Granville, which dominated with five of the top 10 finishers.
Tri-Valley's Taylor Crozier (11:51.6) was eighth of 223 runners and was one of three runners from the MVL to place in the top 25. John Glenn's Brea Wilfong was 18th (12:11.9) and Morgan's Emily Pinkerton 24th (12:27.2).
Sheridan's Grace Householder was 26th (12:30.2), Nora Covey 27th (12:32.1), Addison Smith 32nd (12:47.6), Jenna Stewart 37th (12:52.3) and Reese Thieken 61st (13:17.4).
John Glenn's Grace Lawrence was 29th (12:41.4), Waverly Yurco 41st (12:55.0), Mackenzie Welch 43rd (12:56.2) and Alivia Lake 74th (13:27.4).
New Lexington's Jaylyn Shirkey was 94th (13:56.2), Moreh Longstreth 157th (15:33.7) and Jayden Allen 170th (15:59.1).
Crooksville's Angelina Wood was 10th in 14:08.7.
Crooksville's girls were fourth of seven teams in the open race as Hannah Sheets was second (12:51.7), Grace Sheets 12th (13:45.8) and Samantha Reed 14th (13:47.6). Mallorie Crooks was 47th (15:23.7).
Zanesville's Alyssa Foley was 22nd (14:01.7) and Ayanna Strewart 28th (14:38.5).
Crooksville's Grayson Houk was fifth of 102 runners in the boys open race in 11:03.6, while Dawson Dyer was 72nd (13:37.9), Preston Hunter 87th (15:09.8) and Matthew Taylor 91st (15:45.8).
Sheridan's Alec Lackey was 11th (11:21.0), Henry Taylor 12th (11:245), Owen Drake 39th (12:24.0) and Nathan Grant 65th (13:19.5).
Zanesville's Nicholas Caldwell was 26th (11:45.7) and Kameron Dunn 27th (11:47.0); Philo's A.J. Layton was 52nd (12:55.2), Julian Boylan 64th (13:18.5) and Luke Neff 92nd (15:58.8).
Sheridan's Sheridan Glanemann was second of 237 runners in the girls middle school race. Tri-Valley's Alex Hogue was 12th in 11:25.9 in the middle school boys race.
Girls Soccer
John Glenn 5, Coshocton 0: Estelle Matheney scored twice in the first half and Riley Zamensky twice in the second to lead the Muskies (8-4-3, 7-0-1 MVL) to an MVL crossover win in New Concord.
Marina Nicolozakes also scored in the first half for John Glenn, which led 3-0 at halftime. She also had an assist on Zamensky's goal in the second half.
Bella Eubanks had three assists and Gwyn Lemon one for the Muskies, while Faith Lemon and Bean Sowers combined on the shutout. Coshocton (3-7-2, 3-5) failed to record a shot on goal.
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Roundup: Sheridan, John Glenn golfers come up big
