Local Teams Aiming For Sectional Success
![Tristen Atwood will be one of many local players with a chance at breaking through to next Thursday's regional.](https://www.inkfreenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Tristen-Atwood-2-copy-900x643.jpg)
Tristen Atwood will be one of many local players with a chance at breaking through to next Thursday’s regional.
WARSAW – The 79th Annual IHSAA Boys Golf State Tournament begins this weekend as sectionals will be played around the state this Friday and Saturday.
Local teams will participate in the Warsaw Sectional held at Rozella Ford Golf Club Friday morning. Among those teams will, of course, be Warsaw.
The Tigers have had a spectacular season so far as they claimed both the Northern Lakes Conference regular season and tournament titles. Last season Warsaw turned in a 308 at Rozella to finish second in the sectional, behind champion Columbia City’s 299.
Columbia City may very well be the favorite for this season’s sectional with a top-heavy roster including Tyler Green and Spencer Klimek. But the field goes deeper than Warsaw and Columbia City and Warsaw head coach Ben Barkey knows his team will have a challenge ahead of it.
“There are some really good teams in our sectional field and anything can happen
at tournament time,” began Barkey. “Columbia City is the definite favorite and I’m okay with others being the favorite. We just want to go out and play our best golf and compete for a sectional championship.
“Our mindset is really good having played in big tournaments this season. Our players and
coaches are fully charged and excited to compete in the sectional.”
Experience will not escape the Tigers as Jonny Hollar, Ryan Cultice, Brandon Eckert and Michael Jensen all played in the sectional for Warsaw last season. Senior Reid Cameron joins the ranks for this year’s sectional team.
Outside of City and Warsaw, the top teams remaining in the field that should compete for the title will boast NLC pedigrees, with the exception of Culver Academy, who finished third at the sectional last season.
Plymouth and Wawasee will both pose serious threats to the top of the field, especially the Warriors.
Wawasee has benefited from having most of its players return from last season, exchange student Rasmus Rich being the only player to depart from the team.
The Warriors struggled in the NLC regular season round robin, but finished third at the tournament and found success in several tournaments earlier this year. Perhaps the biggest thing Wawasee can boast going into the tournament is a win it picked up at Rozella earlier this year. The Warriors surprised some by winning the Joe Harris Shootout over a field including Warsaw, Triton and Plymouth.
Leading Wawasee will be 2014 regional qualifier Jeffrey Moore and seniors Mason Germnprez and Tristen Atwood. Cal Heinisch and Kaleb Perry will make up the remaining roster for Wawasee, Heinisch played in last year’s sectional.
Tippecanoe Valley, Whitko, Triton and Lakeland Christian Academy will also be competing in the stacked field.
Valley’s Bryce Zimpelman and Triton’s Greg Music both qualified for the regional last year and both will look to duplicate that success at this year’s sectional. Triton calls Rozella Ford home, giving Music and the rest of the Trojans a nice leg up on the competition. LCA also plays its home matches at Rozella.
The top three teams and top three individuals (not already on an advancing team) will advance to the Warsaw Regional held at Stonehenge Country Club next Thursday at 8:00 a.m.