GREENFIELD — A Hancock County title is nice, but the Mt. Vernon Marauders are hoping the victory is a stepping stone for bigger things down the road.
There was no big celebration after the school won its 10th Hancock County Boys Golf Tournament championship in the last 12 years.
The Marauders shot 162 on Wednesday at Hawk’s Tail Golf Club, 17 strokes better than New Palestine’s 179. Greenfield-Central was third with 182 and Eastern Hancock finished with a 221.
Mt. Vernon won every county boys golf crown from 2010-17. New Palestine won in 2018. Mt. Vernon regained the top spot in 2019, while COVID-19 claimed everyone’s season in 2020.
Marauder seniors Sam McWilliams and Aden Cappelletti tied for the top spot, both shot 1-over-par 37. They elected not to play a playoff hole to determine a single champion, but were fine with sharing the spot as the county’s top high school golfer.
“For confidence for the rest of the season, this helps us out and gets us off to a good start,” McWilliams said. “I think coach (Tom Kirby) really has his eyes set on the bigger tournaments down the road like conference and sectional. I think he’s looking at us doing better in those tournaments, but it’s nice to play well here, too.”
With the Hoosier Heritage Conference Meet just over one week away, followed by the sectional tournament, Kirby and the Marauders’ priorities are to continuing lowering scores.
The first-year coach was glad his team won the tournament, but he came away from Wednesday’s nine-hole event seeing his team’s need for improvement as it sets focus on the bigger 18-hole events around the corner.
McWilliams and Cappelletti played as expected, he said, around par, but he’s hoping the Nos. 3-5 can get there scores down closer to 40. Junior Dylan Dreiman and freshman Asher Cotton tied for fifth with 44s. Aaron Arkenau, a sophomore, shot a 47.
“The conditions were tough, a little bit on the cool side and very windy,” Kirby said. “My No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 were all disappointed in their own performances. We’re striving to be around 40 with those kids. Aden and Sam were around par and that’s what we need to have happen. We’ll take that.
“When we start getting some help for them, now we become a team that can look at winning the sectional, or the regional and that’s what our goals are.”
McWilliams had a pair of birdies on his nine-hole round, while Cappelletti shot par for his first eight holes, prior to bogeying No. 9.
Though there scores weren’t to their liking, by finishing in the top 5, Cotton and Dreiman were part of the all-county team.
Following McWilliams and Cappelletti, New Palestine’s Matt Barada was third with a 41. Fourth place went to Greenfield-Central’s Tyler Young with a round of 42. There was a three-way tie for the fifth spot with Dreiman, Cotton and Greenfield-Central’s Josh Alley.
It was the second all-county performance from McWilliams. He tied for second with two others, carding a 39, as a sophomore in 2019.
He, nor Cappelletti, minded sharing the top spot on Wednesday.
“I don’t think either really care,” McWilliams added. “We’re fine with being co-champions.”
“We are fine with being co-champions,” Cappelletti echoed.
Eastern Hancock’s top golfer was eighth-place finisher John McDaniel, who finished with a 45. He tied for eighth with New Palestine’s Evan Griffith.
Rounding out the Top 10, New Palestine’s Sammy Chifalo shot a 46.
It was the first county tournament for most of the golfers. Only McWilliams, Barada, McDaniel, and Eastern Hancock’s Chase Riggs played in the 2019 tournament, also held at Hawk’s Tail. All four had lower scores the second time around. Along with McWilliams shaving two strokes off his performance, Barada dropped three, McDaniel one and Riggs seven, from a 63 to 56.
Mt. Vernon is not the only team prepping for the Hoosier Heritage Conference tournament. New Palestine and Greenfield-Central will be there, too. The event is scheduled for May 15 at the Players Club at Woodland Trails in Yorktown.
“It’s a good thing to be back winning again,” Kirby added. “This is my first year and it’s all brand new to me, but when I look at what they’re capable of and see every day what they can do, they aren’t even coming close to their potential. It’s convincing them of that.”
Eastern Hancock has its conference tournament on May 15, too. The Royals will play in the Mid-Eastern Conference Tournament at Crestview Golf Course in Muncie.
