The Pilot News - Triton, Carpenter enjoy historic firsts at Marshall County Meet

“That’s satisfying,” said Triton golf head coach Jack Carpenter. “You’d like to win it with the conditions a little better and shoot a little better score, but we’ll take it. Obviously it’s enjoyable for the first time for these kids. Four seniors and then a junior, they’ve done a pretty nice job. They’re reaping some rewards, which is good for them, so I appreciate that.”
While John Glenn’s Brett Hulse had already accomplished a three-peat individual championship in the Marshall County competition, Carpenter — who also owns a top 10 tourney scoring record for his performance at Mystic Hills last year — is the first to have done it in three successive years as Hulse won in 1996, 97 and 99.
Still, the driven Carpenter says, he would have preferred to have won with a lower score Saturday.
“Three consecutive years, the first time, that’s an accomplishment I guess, but coming in the last two years, I kind of expected to win. I hoped to play better,” he said. “A good tournament like this, I don’t want to take anything away from the other players, but I try to play the course more than I do the field. If I think I should win by a few shots, then that’s what I should do, you know. I don’t try to win by one or two, I try to play the course as much as possible.”
“He’s worked so hard,” said Jack Carpenter of his nephew and Triton’s number one golfer. “I’ve played tons and tons of golf with the young man. He’s a great kid on and off the golf course. He’s a great role model. He does work on his game quite a bit, so what he’s getting is just from hard work. He puts in the time, and it’s paying off for him.”
Triton’s top three golfers all finished in the top five at Mystic Hills to give the Trojans the win with a total score of 341, 17 strokes better than second-place Bremen, which won the tourney last year and currently boasts the highest number of county team championships with 15.
Behind Carpenter, Blake Schori shot an 84 to tie for second low medalist honors with John Glenn’s Connor Berkebile, while Colton Keel carded an 87 at the 18-hole round to tie for fourth place with Bremen number one Max Kipfer. Meanwhile, Trojan senior Reggie Davis finished the round in 90 to tie with both CMA’s Gary Fan and Bremen’s Taylor Fanning for the fifth-lowest score of the day.
“But I think, they’d be the first to tell you they wish they’d shot a little better scores even though it’s windy out,” said Jack Carpenter. “With T.J. shooting that 80, even though it’s windy, our expectations for him would be a little bit better than that. The score’s a little high because of the wind. Hopefully, we come back — we’ve got a couple more tournaments here — the scores will be down in the low 80s, high 70s even though it’s windy. But you hate to use those things for excuses for them, but they played solid. Everybody had the same conditions, and our kids had the lower scores so we’ll take it.”
Behind Fanning, Triton’s Erik Shafer finished in 93 strokes in a tie for 14th place with Bremen’s Matt Ringle and Culver’s Conlan Deery.
Leading the way for the Cavaliers on their home course, senior Lucas Hanselman carded an 86 for an individual third-place result behind Schori and Berkebile.
“I’m very, very happy for Luke (Hanselman) as an individual,” said Culver golf head coach Kyle Elliott. “I’m maybe a little disappointed with the other members of the team, but Luke he’s had such a great senior year, and to come out here and place in the county is big for him. But I think it’s big for our team as well, because some of those teammates see Luke having his success, and I hope they take it as a challenge to themselves.”
Culver was in second at the turn with a 173 after the Cavs finished the front nine, but struggled with the windy conditions with a 192 on the back to finish in fourth place a second consecutive year with a score of 173. Ashton Duke recorded a 92 to finish one stroke ahead of Deery for Culver, while Drew Norwich carded a 97, and Chris Montgomery shot a 99 to round out the Cavs’ scorecard.
“We were fourth-place last year with the exact same score, a 368,” said Elliott. “For us it’s a disappointing score. We’ve got five seniors that we return from last year’s squad. You know, it wasn’t the ideal playing conditions, but it wasn’t for any of the other teams playing here. It’s one of those things, we just weren’t able to overcome the mental aspect of it as much as anything.
“The back side at Mystic traditionally is a tougher side,” he added. “But I think it is also a grinding 18 holes. You have to stay mentally strong as you play that back side. It’s a little bit more hilly and winding. There’s a lot more trees on the back side that you can, unfortunately, situate yourself behind, and things of that nature. It’s a mental game on that back side, and, unfortunately, that’s what hurt us. We were right in contention with a 173 at-the-turn score and just completely fell apart there on the back, almost 20 strokes higher. That, no doubt, was the difference in today’s tourney.”
Bremen recorded two top-10 finishes in Kipfer and Ryan Stratton, who finished one stroke out from Kipfer, Ringle and David Leeper both placed in the top 20. Leeper was 18th along with LaVille’s Jimmy Tuttle.
Behind Tuttle, Chris Harris finished second for the Lancers six strokes back, and Blake Manns was 27th for the round another five behind Harris. Blake Manns carded a 106, while Zach Young and Jay Carbiener were close behind with scores of 111 and 121, respectively. The Lancers placed sixth in the team meet with a 413 Saturday.
Glenn was led by Berkebile, and Slade Frey tied with Duke with a 92 for 12th individually. Lee Morris was 17th with a 94 for the day, while Cole Anspaugh tied with Norwich for the final top-20 spot. Zach Abair recorded the Falcons’ final score with a 103, and Glenn seized itself a spot in the top three with a cumulative 367, just one stroke lower than Culver’s total.
Culver Military placed between the Lancers and the Cavs at Mystic Hills with a 376. Ryan Weworski tied for seventh with Stratton, and Fan was not far behind with a 90 to enter into a three-way tie for ninth. Also for the Eagles, Taylor Duguay was 22nd individually with a 98 score, and Adrian Negreros placed 30th.
• MARSHALL COUNTY GOLF MEET
At Mystic Hills Golf Course in Culver
Team scores: 1. Triton 341; 2. Bremen 358; 3. John Glenn 367; 4. Culver 368; 5. Culver Military Academies 376; 6. LaVille 413.
Individual Top 10: 1. T.J. Carpenter (T) 80; 2. Blake Schori (T), Connor Berkebile (G) 84; 4. Lucas Hanselman (C) 86; 5. Colton Keel (T), Max Kipfer (B) 87; 7. Ryan Stratton (B), Ryan Weworski (CMA) 88; 9. Reggie Davis (T), Gary Fan (CMA), Taylor Fanning (B) 90.
TRITON (341): TJ Carpenter 80, Colton Keel 87, Reggie Davis 90, Erik Shafer 93, Blake Schori 84.
BREMEN (358): Max Kipfer 87, David Leeper 95, Ryan Stratton 88, Taylor Fanning 90, Matt Ringle 93.
JOHN GLENN (367): Slade Fry 92, Connor Berkebile 84, Zach Abair 103, Cole Anspaugh 97, Lee Morris 94.
CULVER COMMUNITY (368): Lucas Hanselman 86, Conlan Deery 93, Chris Montgomery 99, Ashton Duke 92, Drew Norwich 97.
CMA (376): Adrian Negreros no score, Chase Chakeen 100, Ryan Weworski 88, Gary Fan 90, Taylor Duguay 98.
LAVILLE (413): Chris Harris 101, Jimmy Tuttle 95, Jay Carbiener 121, Blake Manns 106, Zach Young 111.