Wildcats continue conference links dominance

CARTHAGENA - Minster entered Saturday's Midwest Athletic Conference boys' golf tournament at the Mercer County Elks, seeking for a ninth overall title in 10 years.

At the midway point of the 18-hole tournanament, Minster and Versailles were neck-and-neck in the standings, but at the end of the day, the Wildcats won the tournament with a score of 327. The tournament win allowed the Wildcats, who went 9-0 in conference matches, to win the overall team title.

"Great day. They finished strong," said Jim Stubbs, who shares Minster's coaching duties with Jill Howe. "It was pretty windy. They finished well.

"We're very proud of what they've done this season."

Versailles finished 13 shots back with a 340. Fort Recovery finished third with a 354 with Coldwater five strokes back at 359. Rounding out the leaderboard were Marion Local (362), New Bremen (366), St. Henry (391), Parkway (392), Delphos St. John's (396) and New Knoxville (424).

The windy conditions made for some higher scores, and only two golfers were able to break 80 on the day.

Minster's Austin Brackman, the first to tee off in the tournament, struggled on his front nine, shooting a 4-over 40 as he made the turn. The back nine, though, produced good numbers. Coming off 18, Brackman played even on the final nine to finish with a 76 to take tournament medalist.

"I bogeyed the first hole. Then I focused on hitting the green on the rest of my holes," Brackman said. "I didn't putt very well on the front (nine), but I worked on getting two-putts and reading the greens. That really helped me on the back.

"It was really windy out, especially on the last couple of holes. It really picked up. I adjusted to it."

The tournament runner-up was New Bremen's Alex Britton, who entered Saturday as the top points scorer in regular season match play. Needing a good day to hold off Brackman and Coldwater's Tyler Kanney in the Golfer of the Year standings, Britton used a strong back nine to overcome a tough front. Britton shot an even-par 36 on the back nine to finish with a 79 to secure the conference's top golfer award with 153 points. Brackman and Kanney, who finished third in the tournament with an 80, were runners-up with matching 147 1/2 point totals.

"It's a good experience," Britton said. "I played a good first half of the (season). The other half was slow. I didn't play as well at the end. But I got through, played well at the end and earned it."

Other top finishers in the tournament were Versailles' Jacob Watren and Griffen Riegle (81), Minster's Matt Trushaw and Chip Perryman (83) and teammate Sam Schutte (85) and Fort Recovery's Chase Bruns and St. Henry's Kyle Naumann (86).

Joining Britton, Brackman and Kanney on the first team All-MAC list were Watren, Minster's Xavier Francis, Bruns, Naumann, Schutte, Coldwater's Jarren Kunk, Trushaw, Fort Recovery's Derek Backs and Versailles' Kyle Cotner.

The conference teams, escept for Versailles, begin their postseason on Thursday. Versailles will instead will play in the Division III sectional on Tuesday at Turtlecreek near Greenville. Coldwater travels to Country Acres outside Ottawa for the Division II sectional tournament. The remaining MAC teams, except for St. John's, will play at Hawthorne Hills in the Division III sectional. St. John's will play its Division III sectional at Eagle Rock near Defiance.