GALION — There’s little doubt who has the best golf team in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference. Ater finishing the regular season at a perfect, 14-0 — for the second year in a row — the Galion Tigers easily defended their league title during action Thursday at Valley View.
Galion’s team score of 294 was easily better than Buckeye Valley and Ontario, who finished second and third with a score of 347. Rounding out the field were: 4. Clear Fork- 353; 5. Pleasant- 360; 6. Harding- 374; 7. River Valley- 379 and 8. Shelby- 385.
On Tuesday, only six players in the MOAC shot scores in the 70s. Four were from Galion.
With a 71, the Tigers’ Matthew McMullen was the medalist. After shooting when he called a “disappointing” front-nine score of 40, McMullen fired an impressive 31 on the back-nine. Teammates Jack McElligott and Spencer Keller had 74s. In a tie for fourth place, Kaleb Harsh of Galion and Brock Dettmer of Clear Fork shot scores of 75 apiece while Lane Thomas of Ontario came in sixth with a 77.
Matt Kingseed shot an 84 for the Tigers while Max Longwell rounded out the Galion competitors with an86. Kingseed and Longwell’s scores would have been kept scores on all other teams in the field on Thursday.
“I didn’t come out well in the front,” McMullen said. “I had a triple (bogey) on four and then I birdied five and then doubled six so I was a little up and down. I made the turn after getting mad at myself. I was knocking in birdies to start the back-nine and thought to myself, ‘now we’re getting somewhere.’
“I just kept giving myself good opportunities and if the first shot wasn’t the one that I was looking for, I made up for it on my second shots with my irons.” McMullen missed eagle putts on the 13th and 17th holes.
Head coach Bryce Lehman had a lot to say.
“Where do you start?” he said. “Unbelievable. I had a really good feeling after our practice round on Wednesday and it’s a carryover from Westbrook and how well all my kids have been playing lately. They showed their true resilience and couldn’t be more proud of the effort out of each and every one of these guys. I think that it all is a sign of good things to come and we’re going to get right back at it heading up to sectionals. Simply put, they are just playing so well!”
Next up for Galion is a potential return to the state tournament. That run begins Thursday in the sectional tournament at Sawmill Creek in Huron
Tigers earn fourth at Lexington Shoot-Out
MANSFIELD — On Monday, Galion was fourth at Westbrook Country Club in the Lexington Shoot-Out.
The Tigers were the only Division II team in the 15-team field and shot a team score of 316. The winning team came from Mason, shooting a 303 to outlast the runner-ups from New Albany (313) by 10 strokes.
Oscar Zimmerman of St. Xavier was the medalist, with a 70. Maxwell Moldovan from Green was named the Shoot-Out champion, finishing with a score of 72. In total, their were 90 golfers in action at Westbrook on Monday.
The two sophomores from the orange and blue turned in the lowest scorecards for Galion on the day with McMullen shooting a 74 to tie for fourth place and Keller firing a 78, good for a 13th place tie.
Seniors McElligott, Harsh and Kingseed turned in the next three lowest scores for the Tigers. McElligott shot a 79 to tie for 18th, Harsh an 85 (tie, 39th) and Kingseed a 91 (tie, 61st). Freshman Longwell rounded out the Galion roster, shooting a 98 and tying for 79th.
Rounding out the team scores were: 3. Dublin Jerome- 314; 5. St. Xavier- 318; 6. Pickerington North- 324; 7. Green- 324; 8. Lexington- 333; 9. St. John’s Jesuit- 336; 10. Ashland- 338; 11. Lancaster- 343; 12. West Holmes- 352; 13. Mount Vernon- 355; 14. Findlay- 359 and 15. Wooster- 374.
