Magnificat’s Lia Labate chips one out of the sand trap last week at Sweetbriar to help the Blue Streaks win the sectional championship. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Magnificat golf moves on, West effort falls short
By Jim Horvath
Sports
Published Oct. 8, 2008

For Magnificat’s golf team, it was a day where everything clicked.

Lutheran West’s boys squad, on the other hand, probably had a day they’d like to forget.

Magnificat made its first tournament win of the season count last week at Sweetbriar as the Blue Streaks edged out Strongsville in a scorecard tiebreaker and won the Division I Sectional Golf Tournament.

Lutheran West’s stellar season, however, fell just short of a trip to Columbus as the Longhorns finished third in the Division III District tournament at Seven Hills last Thursday.

Magnificat will now move on to tomorrow’s Northwest Ohio district tournament at Heather Downs in Toledo. Westlake’s girls team fell just short of qualifying, finishing fifth. Aimee Polgar and Kayla Waitrovich, however, qualified for tomorrow’s tournament as individuals.

Westlake’s Aimee Polgar chips onto the green last week at the Division I sectional tournament at Sweetbriar. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Also moving on to Heather Downs are Nicole Cantrell of Olmsted Falls and the North Olmsted duo of Kelly Limpert and Carley Babinec.

“It all came together for us,” said Magnificat head coach Libby McGrath. “All of our girls played pretty well that day. Padua, St. Joseph and Strongsville had just beaten us in tournaments the prior week.

“We’ve finished third in several of the tournaments we played in during the regular season. We’re pretty solid at one and two, but at Sweetbriar our three and fours really came through for us,” she said.

Senior Laurel Friesen was the top golfer for Magnificat with a 79, followed by junior Victoria Bello with an 85. Sophomore Lia Labate struggled with a 51 on the front nine, but rallied with a 45 on the back nine to register a 96, Fellow sophomore Ellen Dreher also shot a 96, recovering from a 52 opening round to get a 44 on the back nine. Junior Jane Peterson had a 102.

“Lia had a rough day, but we were able to fix some things for her on the back nine,” said McGrath. “She averaged an 86 during the season, and if she can do that at the district tournament we might have a shot at making it to state.”

Polgar of Westlake shot an 84 to advance, while teammate Waitrovich had a 91. Cantrell (87), Limpert (94) and Babinec (95) will also give the Southwestern Conference a strong presence tomorrow.

Lutheran West’s youthful boys squad shot a 340, five strokes behind second-place Mogadore at last week’s boys district. Longhorn head coach Karen Wittrock felt her team’s inexperience may have caught up with them.

“I think we were nervous, although they would never admit it,” said Wittrock, who led her team to the Patriot Athletic Conference title. “I’ve tried to come up with another reason, but I just can’t.

“We got off to a bad start, and we just weren’t able to come back from that,” she added.

Junior Louie Durban rallied on the back nine with a 38 to finish with an 82, tying fellow junior Nick Blackburn, who shot a 39 on the back nine. Sophomores Mike Clum and Jared Fristik both shot 88s for the Longhorns. Junior Ben Lehrke had an off day as well, with a 50 on the front nine.

“He wasn’t swinging well that day, so we had to depend on our fifth man (Fristik),” said Wittrock. “I think our sophomores had a hard time handling the pressure. If we would have tied Mogadore, we would have gone to state because their fifth man was disqualified.

“Despite the rough start, we still almost made it. We just couldn’t get rid of those last five strokes. We had an awesome year, though. We got a lot of tournament experience with a tough schedule, and all six of them will be back next year,” she said, including another sophomore, Russell Armbruster, in the mix.