LAGRANGE, Ohio – Rocky River is the Great Lakes Conference Boys’ Golf champion. No year assignation required. Just the champs. The only one the five-year old athletic conference has ever known.
That honor holds true in 2019 courtesy the Pirates
delivering a
big win in a match against top circuit foe Elyria Catholic on Tuesday and then delivering the entire eight-team conference a knockout blow in Wednesday’s GLC Championship Tournament.
Rocky River (25-3, 23-1 GLC) picked up eight wins in the
standings by defeating the other eight GLC teams in the 18-hole title event
played at Grey Hawk Golf Club on Wednesday. The Pirates carded a four-man score
of 332 over the par-72, 6,240-yard layout. That cleared the field by 15
strokes. (The Bay Rockets placed second, firing a 347; EC finished third with a
368.)
For the GLC title, River went 23-1; second-place Elyria
Catholic finished 19-4-1.
Individually, senior Ethan Mylett finished clear of the
field to earn medalist honors. Mylett carded an 8-over 80.
“I’m really proud of these guys,” said Head Coach David Hendrickson, who has been at the helm for four of Rocky River’s now-five GLC championships. “It’s a deep well of guys who can step up and be the No. 1 any given day,” said the now-four-time GLC Coach of the Year. “The boys support each other and have fun, and they are competitors out there.”
That depth was on display Wednesday at Grey Hawk. Mylett was joined on the big board by Hayden Weaver (82), Will Bennett (84), Mac Milenius (86) and Carlo Fricano (86). To Hendickson’s point, most in that quintet have been Rocky River’s leading scorer at some point during the 2019 campaign.
And, for the purposes of GLC competition, it’s a campaign that ends the way the previous four seasons also ended:
With the Pirates winning a conference title.
CANNON FIRE …
ALL-CIRCUIT CITY: League golfers earned All-Great Lakes Conference honors based on handicap averages in GLC matches (including the league preview meet and Wednesday’s tournament). Rocky River athletes were prominent among those honorees. Earning First-Team All-GLC honors in 2019 were Will Bennett, Carlo Fricano, Mac Milenius, Ethan Mylett, and Hayden Weaver. John Snyder earned second-team all-circuit honors. Aidan and Matthew McDonald came away as Honorable Mentions. … Bennett and Milenius are three-team All-GLC honorees.
DEPTH CHARGE: Including JV rounds, the Rocky River roster has eight players with a stroke average in the range of 82.5-to-86.5.
DOUBLE-R – REMARKABLE RECORD: With 2019 GLC play in the books, the Pirates are now 5-0 all-time in the league’s championship tournament. River’s all-time GLC match record is 88-2 (.978).
by Skip Snow
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