IAC BOYS GOLF: STRONG SHOWING LEADS TIOGA TO LEAGUE TITLE (19 PHOTOS) (2019-05-22)
BY TIM TAYLORValley Sports ReportHORSEHEADS - Tioga put together four solid rounds of golf to claim the IAC Small School and overall championships at Soaring Eagles Golf Course here Wednesday.
Mother Nature was in a rare cooperative mood as well as the Tigers shot a 465 aggregate score to defeat Large School champ Dryden by 18 strokes. The triumph also served as a little measure of revenge as the Purple Lions handed Tioga its lone dual match on a tie-breaker in the season opener.
Dryden's Kevin Gardner would capture the medalist honor with a 78 on the 6,332-yard, par-71 layout.
The Tigers' Sam Taylor would finish second overall and claim the Small School medalist title with an 82.
Tioga would sweep the top three Small School spots as AJ Middendorf and Jake Maciak shot 87 and 93, respectively. Middendorf was fourth overall and Maciak was eighth.
Ben Coddington posted a 95, placing sixth in Small School and missing out on an overall top 10 by one stroke.
Zach Nichols rounded out the team scoring for the blue and gold with a 108 and Joe Ellis had a non-scoring 117.
Waverly competed with an incomplete team. The Wolverines were paced by Jack Knight's 102. Hunter Elston shot a 122 and Ethan Williams had a 131.
Elston experienced an interesting delay in play as he and playing partners Catie Kopp of Southern Cayuga and Moravia's Conner Morris had to pause while a fox trotted across the 18th fairway.
Rounding out the top 10 golfers in the overall challenge were SVEC's Jacob Banks in third with an 85, Dryden's Connor Smith and Whitney Point's Trystan Layton in fifth with 89s, Notre Dame's Nate Murray in seventh with a 90, Groton's James Lucey in eighth with a 93, and Lansing's Tyler Kirk with a 94.
The South Small School all-star first team included Taylor, who was chosen the MVP, Middendorf, Maciak and Coddington, Watkins Glen's Georgio Fazzary, Edison's Jack Shaw and Odessa-Contour's Noah Hollenbeck on the first team. Watkins Glen's Ethan Cary and Daniel Ely were named to the second team.
Named to the South Large School all-star first team were Waverly's Jack Knight, Newark Valley's Billy Knight, the MVP, Shawn Deer and Matt Waterman, SVEC's Jacob Banks and Taylor Brock, and Notre Dame's Nate Murray. Waverly's Hunter Elston, Newark Valley's Tucker Petitt and SVEC's Luke Benjamin were second team picks.
Middendorf was the recipient of the 36th annual Dean Winters Award as the league's outstanding senior golfer.
Kopp was selected the 2019 Marty Conner IAC Golf Academic Award winner for being the senior with the highest academic average.
Teams return to action Thursday at the Section IV Boys Golf Championships at Delhi.
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IN PHOTO 1: Tioga's Sam Taylor. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
