By Robert Jeffrey

Contributor

ITHACA- Over the course of Thursday May 18 and Saturday May 20 the Norwich golf team competed in the Section IV State Qualifier with the chance for one or more of the NHS linksters to qualify for the NYSPHSAA State Championships. By the end of the two day event, it was Norwich’s Ryan Johnson who qualified for the state tournament, received medalist honors in the Section IV competition along the way finishing with a two-day 36-hole score of 155.

At the start of Thursday’s first round, the NHS crew brought down Johnson, Brennan Maynard, Alex Gage, and Nate Scheer to Cornell University’s Robert Trent Jones golf course for the Section IV competition. By the end of the extensive 18 hole course, only two of the Purple Tornado golfers remained in contention. Nate Scheer recorded a score of 96 and teammate Brennan Maynard scored an 86 in which both missed the cut for Saturday’s medalist tournament. The two remaining Tornado athletes advanced to Saturday’s main event as Johnson shot an 80, and sophomore Alex Gage shot an impressive 76 on the afternoon. And out of the 59 total athletes from Section IV who attended Thursday’s competition, only 21 remained in contention for a spot on the Section IV state team. “For Alex and Ryan this is a very exciting time” said Norwich head coach Dave Branham, “All of the boys kept their composure on the course when things didn’t go their way. It’s something that I’m very proud of them for. Golf is a tough sport and it’s hard to focus when the ball doesn’t roll your way.”

As for Saturday’s event, Johnson improved upon his play, scoring the lowest score of the day with a 75. Meanwhile, his teammate Alex Gage rallied for a score of 89. Gage’s two day score of 165 landed him in a 10th place finish, as he unfortunately missed the cut by one stroke. Johnson’s two day score of 155 allowed him to creep into the second place spot, moving up one position from last year’s tournament in which he placed third overall.