Tiger Cub golfers win Attica sectional

With advice from coach Steve Paquin, Blaise Hasty of Greencastle considers his next shot Friday at Harrison Hills in Attica. Hasty's 83 was the third best in the Tiger Cubs' sectional winning effort.

Cougars finish third, advance

ATTICA -- Greencastle got excellent rounds from both its top two scorers and its third and fourth players to regain the sectional championship it surrendered last year, defeating runner-up Seeger by six strokes and defending champ North Putnam by nine shots.

Greencastle finished with a 324, while Seeger had a 330 and North Putnam had a 333.

Freshman Peyton Snoeberger of Seeger was the meet medalist with a 74, while North Putnam's Austin Judy was second with a 77 in the tourney played at the Harrison Hills course.

Jake Buis of Greencastle was one shot behind Judy with a 78, and teammate Jake Bennett tied for fourth with North Vermillion's Will Martin at 79.

Greencastle, Seeger and North Putnam's teams will advance to the Washington Regional on Thursday, along with Martin, Covington's Jansen Applegate and Crawfordsville's Devin Guard as the top scorers on non-advancing teams.

Greencastle won its third title in the past four years to qualify for its fifth straight regional appearance, while North Putnam also continued its post-season success string with a fourth straight regional berth.

"The whole team was really consistent," Greencastle coach Steve Paquin said. "Front nine, back nine.... We had good consistency all around."

The three advancing teams were all tied with Crawfordsville at the halfway point with 161s, but the Athenians faded on the back nine and finished 12 strokes behind North Putnam as the other front runners remained on top of their games.

"We held it together, and didn't take any big numbers," Paquin said. "Last year, we shot 351 at Crawfordsville and came out third. We had a much better performance on a much more difficult course."

First-year Cougar coach Shawn Alspaugh said he knew there were four really good teams here, and only three spots.

"We knew we were going to have to play some good golf to advance, and we did," he said. "One good thing about coming out strong early was that we set a standard for a score to beat. We had to bring it on the back as well, and the back nine is the harder half."

Alspaugh noted that the Attica course is hilly, which makes vision deceiving for the golfers in trying to plan which shots to attempt.

With a second-place individual finish, North Putnam senior Austin Judy didn't hit too many bad shots on Friday. However, he is clearly unhappy with this fairway shot. Judy's 77 was three strokes back of the medalist effort of Peyton Snoeberger of Seeger.

"The greens can be tough, and there were a lot of very short putts," he said. "Those can be tricky, but we did a pretty good job with it. Overall we did a pretty good job of handling those."

Team scores (top three teams advance to regional) -- Greencastle 324, Seeger 330, North Putnam 333, Crawfordsville 345, Covington 350, Southmont 359, North Montgomery 361, Attica 370, Turkey Run 391, North Vermillion 361, Fountain Central 409, South Vermillion 422, South Putnam 444, Rockville 449

Top three individuals advancing (not on advancing team) -- Will Martin (NV) 79, Jansen Applegate (Cov) 81, Devin Guard (Craw) 83 (won three-man playoff)