Indians take top spot at Mercer County Invite

CELINA, Ohio — The girls started their season on Monday.

The boys had to wait an extra day to hit the links, but the slight delay didn’t hurt them as the Indians came out as strong as they could have hoped for.

The village earned bragging rights in Mercer County on Tuesday after the Fort Recovery High School boys golf team claimed the top spot in the Mercer County Invitational with a score of 327 at Mercer County Elks Golf Club.

The Indians finished seven strokes ahead of St. Henry and Parkway, who tied for second with 334. Coldwater wasn’t far behind either, finishing third with 337, while Marion Local’s 351 strokes had them in last.

Reece LeFevre led the way for the Indians with a 75 in the match. He tied for match medalist honors but lost the outright title in a shootoff.

He shot for par on 11 of the 18 holes, and added a pair of birdies on the 14th and 17th holes – both were par-4s.

Following LeFevre were Keegan Muhlenkamp and Eli Lennartz with an 81 and 82, respectively. They combined for 23 pars in the match.

The fourth score came from Caleb Smith, who shot an 89 in his varsity debut.

Scores of 91 and 95 from Riley Grieshop and Drew Backs didn’t impact the final.

Snow cuts back

DECATUR — The Jay County girls golf team shot a 465 at the Bellmont Invitational on Tuesday at Cross Creek Golf Club.

Norwell won the match, with the low score of 369, while the Patriots’ score had them trailing behind for fifth place. Bluffton finished as the runner up with 400, Adams Central (454) was third and Bellmont (455) was one stroke behind. JCHS did beat Heritage, which shot a 473.

After opening the season with a 110, Maddy Snow cut back to shoot a 100 on Tuesday. She made par on the seventh (par-3) and ninth (par-4) holes and added seven bogeys.

Snow finished seventh in the meet, while Emma Schwartz of Bluffton claimed the match medalist with an 80.

Brooklynn Bright claimed the second-best score for Jay County with a 116. She shot for bogey four times.

Bailey Towell finished one stroke behind as a pair of bogeys led her to a score of 118.

Erin Aker contributed the fourth score with a 131.

JV comes up short

CELINA and UNION CITY, Ohio — The Fort Recovery junior varsity golf team competed in a pair of events on Tuesday.

Colson Post led the way for the Indians at the Mercer County Invitational with a match-low 92 strokes.

The Indians finished with 403 strokes, falling to Coldwater 24 strokes but claiming second.

Other scores came from Mason Diller (95), Garrett Diller (89) and Hoyt Schmitz (118).

FRHS placed seventh at the Union City Classic with a 219. Will Westgerdes shot the low of 51, while other scores came from Will Faller (54), Reed Albers (56) and Hudson McAbee (58).