Local trio places top-5 at Hohenstein Classic

CLYDE — A collection of 21 boys golf teams took to the course at Green Hills Golf Course on Monday to help ring in the fall sports season, and a number of local athletes were among the best of the bunch. Three of the top-five finishers came from Register-area schools: Danbury's Gavin Clark was third on tiebreaker with a 75, matched by fourth-place Xander Bohn of Margaretta, who also shot a 75. Bellevue's Tyson Baptista rounded out the top five with a 76. The Redmen were the best-finishing area team at a 330 for fourth place. Following Baptista with 83s were Daniel Ochenduski and Cody Lindsey and Grant Woodruff carded an 88. They won the tiebreaker with Margaretta thanks to a 91 from fifth golfer Tyson Raymond. "It feels great," Baptista said. "Hopefully we keep going down from here." Tiffin Columbian was the team winner, coming in at 312, just ahead of Old Fort's 318. Jace Riesen was individual runner-up with a 74 for the Tornadoes. The individual medalist was Tiffin Calvert's Kevin Ardner, who shot a 73. He was also the medalist at last Friday's New Riegel Invitational. Rain fell early and often at Green Hills, although it let up for most of the late morning after softening the course. "It was kind of misty and started coming down pretty good, but then it was off and on throughout the day," Clark said. "It definitely made it softer, which was nice, because going into the greens was easier." Clark and Bohn, both seniors, were playing their first team events of the year but are coming from different places. Clark was 10th at the Division III state tournament last fall and is trying to build on that. "Playing in the conditions, I played pretty well, and then I just struggled at the end a little," Clark said. "... My irons were definitely on, and my driver was really good to start off with." Bohn was unhappy with the starts to his prior varsity seasons and wanted to find a way to turn that around. "It feels really good," Bohn said. "Last couple years, it's been tough, but this feels really good." Bohn spent much of the summer working on every aspect of the game, and he hopes it continues to pay off. The Polar Bears also had strong opening days from Spencer Adkins (80) and Max Hartman (84). "Definitely my putting was going well for sure," Bohn said. "I was getting a lot of long putts really close to the hole, and lipped out a few, but I sunk a lot of putts." Baptista, a junior, matched the best round of his life with his 76. "Today, I felt like I could've saved a couple more strokes here and there with the putting," Baptista said. "But all around, it was a really good day." After some struggles with his irons in early-season practices, Baptista felt comfortable with those clubs in his hands on Monday. "The iron play went well, which was odd, because my iron play has been a little shaky," he said. Clyde's Brayden Olson was the fourth-best area finisher, shooting a 77. Port Clinton's Will Koskela was right behind at 78. Blake Finneran, coming off a 73 on Friday, shot an 83 for St. Mary Central Catholic. Willard's Max Dawson led four Flashes at 90 or better with an 80. Norwalk was led by an 81 from Avery Scheel. St. Paul's Owen Romell came in with an 85, and Sandusky's Paul Loomis led the Blue Streaks with a 90. --- Ralph Hohenstein Classic scores Tiffin Columbian (312) — Jace Riesen 74, Logan Smith 78, Eli Snyder 80, Brayden Boes 80 Old Fort (318) — Evan Combs 77, Konnor Ernsberger 78, Carter Cleveland 80, Ryan Adelsperger 83 Madison (322) — Nick Maglott 77, Landon Goad 80, Josh Maglott 81, Liam Stone 84 Bellevue (330) — Tyson Baptista 76, Daniel Ochenduski 83, Cody Lindsey 83, Grant Woodruff 88 Margaretta (330) — Xander Bohn 75, Spencer Adkins 80, Max Hartman 84, Keiygan Morris 91 Fremont St. Joseph (334) — Cohen Stull 81, Clay Stull 82, Grant Pert 85, Cooper Talikka 86 Willard (344) — Max Dawson 80, Mason Dawson 85, Elijah Reed 89, Carter Bailey 90 Perkins (346) — Colton Kelley 80, Connor Beverick 87, Gavin Bohn 88, Jack Zimmerman 91 Tiffin Calvert (346) — Kevin Ardner 73, Brady Cooper 83, Troy Shook 92, Gavin Wagner 98 Norwalk (347) — Avery Scheel 81, Ethan Brown 88, Dylan Pigman 88, Stephan Lukac 90 Clyde (349) — Brayden Olson 77, Gavyn Boggs 90, Ian McBroom 91, Nico Carroll 91 Mohawk (366) — Lance Frankhart 85, Hunter Haynes 87, Travis Geary 93, Chase Cole 101 Danbury (367) — Gavin Clark 75, Tyler Harris 88, Frankie Kovach 97, Park Wilhite 107 Port Clinton (367) — Will Koskela 78, Drew Stahl 83, Larin Brown 101, Sam Roberts 105 St. Paul (370) — Owen Romell 85, Dan Schwan 91, Tom Gocsik 97, Fletcher Ross 97 Hopewell-Loudon (371) — Cohen Sendelbach 78, Wade Kreais 94, Ethan Carrel 95, Caiden Helms 104 Lake (380) — Ryan Wagner 85, Will Perry 93, Cooper Heckman 97, Zach Stuart 105 St. Mary Central Catholic (384) — Blake Finneran 83, Austin Gill 96, Jacob Harrison 101, Leo Will 104 Lakota (408) — Levi Ullmer 94, Carter Myers 98, Jack Reyna 106, Cooper Lavigne 110 Woodmore (419) — Kevin Wallace 96, Brandon Kayser 99, Kaiden Orcelletto 112, Mason Busiecker 112 Sandusky (472) — Paul Loomis 90, Kole Reiman 107, Bradley Tigges 118, Cain Nesbit 157