HURON — For the third consecutive season, the golfers representing the Galion Tigers traveled to Huron to compete in the Division II, Northwest District sectional tournament held at Sawmill Creek Golf Course.
After finishing in ninth place overall and failing to advance to the district tournament, the Galion squad won the sectional tournament in 2017, outlasting the Vermilion Sailors in a big way; 324-350. That proved to be just a stepping stone as the Tigers made it all the way to the State Championships and finished sixth in Division II.
Galion set off on a similar path on Thursday as they went on to repeat as sectional champions by again defeating Vermilion, albeit by a smaller margin; 326-335. The victory sends the blue and orange to Red Hawk Run Golf Course in Findlay next Thursday, October 4 to contend for a district title. In 2017, Galion finished behind Archbold in districts action; 321-338.
In the field of 60 golfers on Thursday, Tigers’ sophomore Matthew McMullen came away as the medalist. McMullen fired a front-nine score of 36 and a back-nine tally of 41 to claim the top spot with a 77 overall.
Teammate and senior Jack McElligott finished right behind McMullen and tied with Clear Fork’s Brock Dettmer. McElligott shot a 39 on the front and paired that with a 40 on the back to finish with a 79. Dettmer, thanks to the formatting of sectional play, advanced to the district tournament as well as the top-three teams qualify as do the top-four individuals not on a qualifying team.
On the day, Galion would not have a golfer finish outside of the top-14 places.
Spencer Keller turned in a total, 18-hole score of 84 (41, 43) to claim ninth overall while Matt Kingseed shot an 86 (45, 41) to earn a tie for 11th place. Kaleb Harsh rounded out the field for Galion by turning in an 88 (43, 45) to tie for 14th overall.
Joining Galion and Vermilion in district play next Thursday will be the third place team from Port Clinton, who shot a team score of 359 to hold on to the qualifying spot over fourth place Perkins (362).
Rounding out the field at Sawmill Creek were: 5. Ontario- 364; 6. Clear Fork- 367; 7. Willard- 378; 8. Shelby- 383; 9. Edison- 385; 10. Bellevue- 389; 11. Huron- 407 and 12. Bucyrus- 446.
In addition to the Colts’ Dettmer, Sam Siegel (80) and Drew McVeigh (86) from Perkins and Lincoln Finnegan (85) of Shelby will be in attendance at the district tournament in Findlay.
