High school golf: Amherst wins SWC crown on tiebreaker with Avon

AVON LAKE — Mitch Gillam brought the doughnuts and his Amherst golf team brought its A-game to win the Southwestern Conference tournament championship Thursday morning at Legacy Course at Sweetbriar Golf Club. The Comets edged Avon on a tiebreaker. Both teams shot 301 but Amherst's No. 5 golfer — Austin Bray — won the tiebreaker with his 79. Westlake finished a distant third at 309. Five of the six Amherst golfers shot in the 70s, led by freshman Ryan Yoder's 73, one stroke behind medalist Ben Lamke of North Ridgeville. "My job is to bring the doughnuts," said Gillam, in his third season as coach. "There's not much that I do — they're just good players. I just drive them around, high-five them and cheer them on." Gillam was particularly happy his team played so well at Sweetbriar. The Comets will return for the sectional tournament at the same venue. "We kind of geared how our season went, hopefully playing well at this event, because this is where our sectionals will be," Gillam said. "Fortunately, it worked out for us. We had five guys play very, very well." "I did pretty well," Yoder said. "I just had one bad hole (No. 17) where I had a four-putt, but other than that, I played pretty consistently. Came back on 18, had a nice par there, made a nice 15-footer for par. "It was a great team score. The best score of the year." Yoder, Nathan Harmych (75), Brent Baumgartner (76), Joey Kramer (77) and Bray contributed to Amherst's win. Avon had three golfers shoot 75. The three pushed each other all day. "I thought I played pretty well," junior Jack Gerborg said. "We're all pretty even and that really helped, competition-wise. That's a really big part of our success." "The course was in great shape, the greens were rolling really nice," junior Nolan King said. "I felt like I played pretty good — couple mistakes that could have helped my score. Overall, I thought the day was good." "I kind of started off a little shaky," freshman Hunter McCourt said after his first career round at Sweetbriar. "I brought it back with two birdies on the front nine to finish 1-over. Then on the back nine, I did the same thing — started off with three bogeys but came back with two birdies." Avon coach Jeff Stevens was proud of his team's effort in spite of its second straight runner-up finish. Last year, Avon Lake won the conference title. "They compete with each other and they're all good friends," Stevens said. "I think we were confident that we'd play well. As you saw, there are other good teams in the conference. I like it when all the kids play well, even if they're from other schools." Lampe took medalist honors with his career-best round at Sweetbriar. "I feels great," said Lampe, a junior. "All three years I've played, this is the best I've scored. I had the most birdies I've ever had in my life. Everything fell into place. "I've been just trying to get one thing going. I either putt well or drive it well. I just wasn't getting it all together. (Thursday) I finally got it all together. If I can go out here with the best round of my life, I have nothing but confidence going into the (sectional tournament)." Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or at timothygeb@msn.com. Team scores Amherst 301*, Avon 301, Westlake 309, Olmsted Falls 315, North Ridgeville 316, Avon Lake 322, Midview 335, Berea-Midpark 365, North Olmsted 387. * Won on tiebreaker Individual top performers Ben Lampe, North Ridgeville 72; Ryan Yoder, Amherst 73; Ben Scheef, Olmsted Falls 74; Nathan Harmych, Amherst 75; Jack Gerborg, Avon 75; Nolan King, Avon 75; Hunter McCourt, Avon 75; Michael Ambrosino, Westlake 75; Will Fankhauser, Westlake 75.