Golf Bearcats finish fourth in the Big Ten

LUCAS WARE, ZAC MUSGROVE

CLARKSBURG -- Coach Mike Crutchfield brought his Grafton High School Bearcats over here to the Clarksburg Country Club, where they finished in fourth place during the 2012 Big Ten Conference Golf Tournament, which was held on Monday, September 17.

Grafton shot a respectable 339 through this 18-hole event, with Lucas Ware carding a 79 and Zac Musgrove chipping in with an 82 to pick up some individual first-team, all-conference honors.

Ware and Musgrove were joined by Mitch Crutchfield, with 87 strokes, and Zac Summers, with 91 strokes, to give Grafton that 339 score, leaving Broderick Harvey (98) and Drake Toothman (103) as the alternates for this tournament.

Ware was right in the hunt for the low-medalist honors, as both he and North Marion’s Caleb Lee wound up with matching 79s, finishing just two strokes off of the winning pace of Bridgeport’s Marco Oliverio, with his 77.

Ryan Powell, of North Marion, and Alex Balko, of Elkins, carded matching 78s, winding up just one stroke behind the low-medalist. Oliverio.

That quintet, with all five of those golfers breaking through the 80-mark, were joined on the all-conference team by the duo of Sterling Fitzwater, of Fairmont West, and Brent Rhodes, of Bridgeport, with identical 80s, Gauge Hannah, of Fairmont West, with an 81, and Musgrove, of Grafton, with his 82.

The North Marion Huskies won the team title with a total of 326 strokes. The final team scores looked like this: 1. North Marion 326; 2. Fairmont West 332; 3. Elkins 337; 4. Grafton 339; 5. Bridgeport 340; 6. East Fairmont 351; 7. Robert C. Byrd 358; 8. Philip Barbour 364; 9. Buckhannon-Upshur 367; 10. Lewis County 391; 11. Lincoln 392; 12. Preston 416; and Liberty competed without a full team.

This 9-3 showing by the Bearcats sent them into yesterday’s regular-season finale against the University Hawks in Morgantown with an overall record of 41-24, as well as a final Big Ten Conference ledger of 22-9.

A complete summary of the 2012 Big Ten Conference Golf Tournament follows:

1. The North Marion Huskies scored Ryan Powell’s 78, Caleb Lee’s 79, Cameron Wilson’s 78 and Colton Holbert’s 86, for a total of 326 strokes, leaving Dalton Holbert’s 88 and Austin Swiger’s 89 as the alternate rounds.

2. The Fairmont West Polar Bears scored Sterling Fitzwater’s 80, Guage Hannah’s 81, Nick Sinclair’s 86 and Bailey Mohr’s 87 for a total of 334 strokes, leaving Anthony Alvaro’s 90 and Logan Orton’s 113 as the alternate rounds.

3. The Elkins Tigers scored Alex Balko’s 78, Brandon Hammond’s 85, Kelsi Tripplett’s 86 and Kollin Hopwood’s 88 for a total of 337 strokes, leaving Brandon Cain’s 93 and Kole Hopwood’s 94 as the alternate rounds.

4. The Grafton Bearcats scored Lucas Ware’s 79, Zac Musgrove’s 82, Mitch Crutchfield’s 87 and Zac Summers’ 91 for a total of 339 strokes, leaving Broderick Harvey’s 98 and Drake Toothman’s 103 as the alternate rounds.

5. The Bridgeport Indians scored Marco Oliverio’s low-medalist 77; Brent Rhodes’ 80, Tyler Bokey’s 89, and James Goots’ 94 for a total of 340 strokes, leaving Chase Roby’s 98 and Austin Williams’ 114 as the alternate rounds.

6. The East Fairmont Bees scored Brandon Vincent’s 83, Johnny Manchin’s 84, Zach Tilko’s 92 and Jacob Monnell’s 92 for a total of 351 strokes, leaving Hayden Stewart’s 97 and Bailey Frederick’s 104 as the alternate rounds.

7. The Robert C. Byrd Eagles scored Ezra Calef’s 85, Travis Riddle’s 88, Jeremy Thomas’ 92 and Luke Dyer’s 93 for a total of 358 strokes, leaving Kirkland Pyles’ 94 and Luke Carvelli’s 107 as the alternate rounds.

8. The Philip Barbour Colts scored Logan Collin’s 85, Luke Freeman’s 89, Caleb Hawkins’ 93 and Jacob Nestor’s 97 for a total of 364 strokes, leaving Zach Howdershelt’s 98 and Tyler Clifton’s 99 as the alternate rounds.

9. The Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers scored Dalton Westfall’s 87, Jacob Hinzman’s 90, Dalton Crislip’s 92 and Shelton West’s 98 for a total of 367 strokes, leaving Jeffrey Davis’ 131 as the only alternate round, after Nathan Gale withdrew from the tournament.

10. The Lewis County Minutemen scored Aaron Hall’s 93, Mark Moran’s 95, Chris Weaver’s 98 and Jared Myers’ 105 for a total of 391 strokes, leaving Jacob Davison’s 111 and Bryson Butcher’s 117 as the alternate rounds.

11. The Lincoln Cougars scored Ryan Holcomb’s 89, Matt Tucker’s 90, Mikayla Prunty’s 99 and Johnny Spadafore’s 114 for a total of 392 strokes, leaving Frankie Spadafore’s 119 as the alternate round.

12. The Preston Knights scored Will Johns’ 92, R. J. Hare’s 104, Cameron Frankhouser’s 106 and Vanessa Kelley’s 114 for a total of 416 strokes, leaving Garrett Wassick’s 117 as the alternate round.

13. The Liberty Mountaineers only had two golfers in their line-up. They were Chase Morris with a 98 and Ty Wickline with a 105.