“We were on pretty good,” Alter coach Alex Schuster said.
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Senior captain Jack Norman led Alter on Monday with 73. He was followed by senior co-captains AJ Pothast (76) and senior Jack Holtgreive (77). Sophomore Tommy Grawe (81) and junior Colin Scheimann (81) rounded out the scoring. Pothast, Holtgreive and Grawe earned GCL first-team honors after the two-day tournament and Norman and Scheimann made second team.
“I love the fact they are really committed to performing well. They are goal oriented,” Schuster said. “Obviously, we want to make another run at state. We’ve been focused on that all year. For the most part we’ve been pretty consistent. We’ve had a couple rough rounds, but we’ve been able to bounce back from that well.”
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Alter has finished third at the Division II state tournament the past two seasons, trailing Gahanna Columbus Academy and Cleveland’s Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin both times. The Knights return Pothast, Norman and Grawe from last season’s state team.
“I like our chances. We have a lot experience back from last year’s team,” Schuster said. “We’ve had two or three guys kind of step up and fill the void (left by two seniors). They’ve really stepped up and helped us out.”
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Alter starts tournament play with the Division II sectional tournament at PipeStone Golf Course on Sept. 25.
The Knights shot a season-best 301 at Medina, which is also the program’s best score in at least six seasons.
Pothast and Norman are four-year varsity players, while Grawe was a key contributor as a freshman. Holtgreive, Scheimann and junior John Lunne have stepped up this season to give the Knights another shot at state.
“It’s not been the same four guys who have done the scoring. There are days someone will pick it up if someone else is struggling,” Schuster said.
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“It’s a very experienced bunch. Pothast and Norman have been stalwarts with the top varsity team for four years. These younger guys, they were ready to step up this year. They’re hungry to finish strong. … I like our chances as long as we keep playing good golf I think the sky is the limit.”
• Oakwood (6-3-1, 5-2) and Bellbrook (6-3, 5-1) will take their shots at unbeaten Monroe (8-0-0, 5-0) this week in what likely will determine the Southwestern Buckeye League Southwestern Division girls soccer championship. Oakwood hosts Monroe on Thursday and Bellbrook is at Monroe on Saturday.
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Monroe (8-0-1, 5-0-1) is at Oakwood (7-0-1, 5-0-1) in a boys soccer showdown on Thursday in what could decide that SWBL Southwestern Division title. The teams previously tied 0-0 earlier this month.
Waynesville (8-0-0, 5-0-0) leads the boys SWBL Buckeye Division.
• The massive Saturday Night Lights XC invite at Centerville High School is this weekend. The boys and girls cross country event draws elementary runners to varsity squads. Racing begins at 2:15 p.m. and concludes with the high school boys championship at 9:45 p.m.
There are 96 girls teams entered and 94 boys teams. Another 68 middle school teams also will run.
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• Addie Engle of Springfield Catholic Central (17:26.8) won the girls D-I race in the Cedarville University Friendship cross country invitational last weekend. Takumi Ford of Bellbrook (16:13.8) was runner-up in the boys D-I event.
Hope Erbach of Waynesville (19:55.9) was third among the combined Division II-III girls and Ethan Wallis of Cedarville (16:17.6) was second among the Divisions II-III boys.
• Lebanon (10-0) was scheduled to host Centerville (8-3) on Tuesday in a showdown of the Greater Western Ohio Conference girls volleyball leaders. Lebanon went into the match at 5-0 in the National Conference and Centerville was 4-0 in the American.
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The Elks are statistically led by 6-foot junior Emma Miller. The Warriors are powered by junior Emory Spitler and 6-2 sophomore Lily Cropper.
• Tippecanoe (10-1, 7-0) will host Butler (8-6, 6-1) on Thursday in what could decide the Miami Valley League girls tennis title. That will be the final MVL match for the Red Devils, who had an 11-match win streak snapped by visiting Chaminade Julienne last week.
Tipp is led in singles by Dakota Schroeder (9-2, 5-0) and Mira Patel (10-1, 5-0).
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