GHS wins county behind Wheeler's 36

Friday, May 13, 2011
The Greencastle golf team won the Putnam County Tournament Thursday with a score of 152. Members of the Tiger Cubs are (from left) head coach Steve Paquin, Katie Hedge, Luke Brotherton, Raymond Stinson, Jim Wheeler (Tournament medalist), Alec Davis, Brad Haussin and Makenzie St. Marie.

BY CAINE GARDNER

Sports Editor

CLOVERDALE -- For the second consecutive year, Greencastle's Jim Wheeler earned the Putnam County Tournament medalist after posting a round of 36 as the Tiger Cubs won the tournament. GHS won with a total of 152, followed by Cloverdale with 167, South Putnam with a 177 and North Putnam with a 201.

"It feels good, it feels really great," Wheeler said following his round. "I honestly didn't feel like I was playing that well with all the competition."

The Tiger Cubs had three players post sub-40 rounds and four who were named to the All-County team. In addition to Wheeler's 36, Raymond Stinson fired a 37 on Tuesday, with Brad Haussin adding a 38. Luke Brotherton shot 41 and Alec Davis shot a round of 47.

"We played well," GHS head coach Steve Paquin said. "(We got) good, solid consistent play. Jimmy played really, really well and so did Raymond and Brad. Alec had an off night and Luke had three three-putts or he would have shot 38, so it could have been even better.

"They're a good hard-working group of guys. It was a good night," he added.

Cloverdale was led by Chris Arnold's 37, with Gary Williams following with a 40. Sam Jordan shot a 44, Colte Tomlinson a 46 and Ryan Book a 54.

"Obviously it was a big disappointment to have Chris in front with seven holes played and not be able to finish it because he played very, very well today," Cloverdale head coach Doug Wokoun said. "But Jimmy is a two-time champion and Jimmy's a good player and he's earned it and I congratulate him."

Wokoun said he told his team not to leave any strokes on the course Thursday and confessed he felt his team had a better round in them that what they showed Thursday.

A pleasant surprise for the Eagles was the round by freshman Ryan Chestnut. Chestnut carded a 37 to place second overall to lead the Eagles. Dean Varvel shot a 45, Alex Kelly a 47 and Dylan Gilbert a 48. Alek Eickhoff added a round of 58.

"I'm happy with the performance," Eagle head coach Brian McClure said. "All I ask is for them to try hard and I think they did and I couldn't be more excited for our freshman, Chestnut, shot 37 in his first ever county. He was just in a zone out there. Hitting good shots all over the place and I'm just excited for him

"We had a pretty good team performance," he added.

Sophomore Lance Clodfelter shot a round of 46 and led the way for the Cougars. Quade Snyder shot a 50 and John Wilord shot a 52. Mason Asher posted a round of 53 and Colton Smith shot a 56.

Cougar head coach Nathan Martindale said posting better scores will come down to more consistent play from his North Putnam squad.

"We have to do a better job of putting a constant round together," Martindale said. "I think we'll have a couple good shots on a hole and we'll spoil it and have a couple bad shots on the same hole. So we have to get more consistent hole by hole and get some experience out there.

"We've got a lot of young guys. Our top two guys are sophomores, we have two freshmen who score for us a lot, so we're pretty young," Martindale added.

Up next for the Putnam County strikers will be the West Central Conference Saturday at Deer Creek. Coming off his medalist round, Wheeler said his score was a definite shot in the arm.

"It's a big confidence booster, for sure. I'm really going to go into Saturday's round with better expectations than I had before the round tonight," Wheeler said.

For Wokoun, the gauntlet has been thrown down after posting a solid round at county. But he feels it's a challenge that's right up his team's alley.

"Greencastle's already made a statement about Saturday, so we have to try to bounce back a little bit and see if we can get some things corrected for tomorrow and come after them again. It's a great challenge and I think my guys are up to be challenged," Wokoun said.

The county schools will compete at the WCC match Saturday at Deer Creek in Clayton at 11 a.m.

At Cloverdale

2011 Putnam County Tournament

1. Greencastle 152, 2. Cloverdale 167, 3. South Putnam 177, 4. North Putnam 201

Individual Results

Greencastle -- Wheeler 36, Stinson 37, Haussin 38, Brotherton 41, Davis 47

Cloverdale -- Arnold 37, Williams 40, Jordan 44, Tomlinson 46, Book 54

South Putnam -- Chestnut 37, Varvel 45, Kelly 47, Gilbert 48, Eickhoff 58

North Putnam -- Clodfelter 46, Snyder 50, Willord 52, Asher 53, Smith 56

2011 All-Putnam County Team

1. Wheeler (GHS) 36

2. Chestnut (SP) 37

3. Stinson (GHS) 37

4. Arnold (CHS) 37

5. Haussin (GHS) 38

6. Williams (CHS) 40

7. Brotherton (GHS) 41