September 28, 2012
By GREG BRILL
Special to The Winchester Star

FRONT ROYAL — Roger Repasky knew what was good enough to tie for medalist in the Northwestern District was not going to cut it three days later in the Region II tournament.

On Monday, Repasky, a James Wood sophomore, tied with teammates Thomas Papastavrou (the eventual district low medalist) and Will Holmes with an 80 on a cool and windy day at the challenging Rock Harbor Golf Course.

The weather was much better for everyone involved for Thursday’s Region II tournament at Shenandoah Valley Golf Club (at least for much of the afternoon) and Repasky picked a good time to card his lowest score of the season. Repasky shot a three-over par 74 (36-38) to finish tied for sixth overall and earn himself a first-time trip to the state Group AA tournament, which will be held Oct. 8-9 at Lake View Golf Course in Harrisonburg.
Just one spot off from playing for a medal, Repasky did win a one-hole playoff over Monticello’s Ryan Pace to gain the second seed amongst individual medalists from the region for next week’s state tournament.

“It was really [about] everything went right for me — nothing really went wrong,” Repasky said. “My drives were great, my irons were great. My putting was phenomenal. It was just a great round overall.”

Playing in the second overall group to finish, Repasky had to wait two hours until he had his playoff with Mace. Though he knew he would be playing an extra week, Repasky kept his focus to birdie the White No. 1 playoff hole, while Mace managed par.

“His drives were straight and true and long,” James Wood coach Al Smith said. “His approach shots to the green got in and he was able to shoot mainly for par or birdies. He just played well overall today. He had one heck of a round, and I’m happy for that.”

Repasky will be the only local and Northwestern District golfer to compete at the state tournament. With bad weather inching ever close to the course at SVGC late Thursday afternoon, Sherando senior Chris Slater, who shot a 76 (38-38), went off with a group of four other individuals in a quest to win one of the final two spots available. Unfortunately for Slater, he had a double-bogey on the first playoff hole, ending his season.

It was also the end of the road for both Northwestern District champion James Wood and district runner-up Sherando. The Warriors improved by 38 strokes from Monday, shooting an 18-hole round of 327 — which topped the Colonels’ round of 329.

But on a day when defending Group AA champ Western Albemarle shot a winning 300 and runner-up Dominion carded a 305, most all team scores were good. Liberty (341) was the only squad in the eight-team field that the Warriors (sixth) and Colonels (seventh) finished ahead of.

“Obviously, we could have done better,” said Smith, whose team scored a winning 326 on Monday. “Our middle scores weren’t quite where we needed to have them, but, you know, they kept battling all day. You have days like this.”

The Colonels also got an 82 (40-42) from Holmes, an 86 (42-44) from Russell Repasky, and an 87 (46-41) from Papastavrou. James Wood will lose only Russell Repasky to graduation.

“We’ve got pretty much the whole team coming back,” Smith said. “We’ll miss Russell, but hopefully we’ll get someone to step up and come in and start shooting in the low 80s, or, maybe the 70s. We hope to compete again.”

Sherando coach Rob Wright was proud of how his team answered its poor round at districts, when it just edged out Millbrook by four strokes and Skyline by six just to get to regionals. The Warriors worked hard to improve all their scores and playing with a four-senior lineup on Thursday at least helped the team play respectable golf.

After Slater, senior Savannah Ford shot her best score of the season at 82 (38-44), senior Anthony Pierro had an 84 (43-41), and freshman Mason Scott shot an 85 (45-40).

“What a difference a few days make,” said Wright, whose Warriors were much more comfortable on their own course. “We talked about that [playing at home] the last two days in practice, telling them we couldn’t wait to get them over here on our course. It was probably the best two practices we’ve had, and [assistant coach Tater] Myers didn’t have to say anything to them. They came out dedicated and fired up and saved their best for last.”

Wright was equally proud of how Slater competed in his final high school match, especially after a couple tough holes to start his round.

“[He had a] 90 on Monday, and 76 today? This is what he’s been like this year,” Myers said of Slater’s final round.

The Warriors’ fourth senior, Hunter Gronlund, shot a non-counting 88 in his final match. Wright used two freshmen on Thursday, including Trevor Whiteside, who was playing in only his second varsity match.

Millbrook freshman Brian McGuire shot an 87 (45-42) to lead three Pioneers who competed. Junior Collin Shifflett shot an 89 (45-44) and freshman Ryan McCarty had a 93 (49-44). Millbrook will return its entire team in 2013, coming off its best golf of the season when it finished third at districts.

Handley senior Taylor Watts shot an 86 (42-44) in only his second year of high school golf.

The Region II runner-up in 2011 to Jefferson District rival Monticello, Western Albemarle blistered the course at SVGC Thursday to defeat Dulles District champ Dominion by five strokes. The Warriors got a 72 from Hunter Weis, a 73 from Kent Miller, a 77 from Kyle Landis, and a 78 from Nick Norris.

The Warriors had to throw out the 78 Tyler Mahone shot, showing just how much depth they had on a course they love to play.

“This is the best we’ve played this year,” Western Albemarle coach Darren Maynard said. “We lost three seniors from last year’s group, but we seem to play this course well. We have a good history here and we’ve won a couple state championships here.

“We work really hard about keeping the ball straight and preparing to play this course. We actually play a little game I invented a few years ago, where you can't hit it in the rough. So we work really hard on that. You don’t have to hit it far here, but you've got to hit it straight. We had five 70s, and we haven’t done that all year. This is our peak, so far, and we’ll take it.”

Defending individual state champ Sam Stillwell of Dominion has a certain fondness of the course, as well. The senior shot a 66 on the second day of the state tournament last season at SVGC and won the two-day state tournament by one stroke. On Thursday, the senior, who was fifth in the region tournament last season, was just as smooth.

Carding a two-under 69, Stillwell, who finished with the first overall group, could sit back and relax the rest of the day as the next best round came from Dulles rival Ryan Douglass of Heritage, who finished with an even-par 71.

“I felt good,” said Stillwell, who shot 34-35 and won a Region II title for the first time. “This is a course where there is a lot of great opportunities. I kind of got off to a slow start, but made sure not to panic. I stayed calm and got some putts to roll in.”

“I hit an eight-iron on the par-three eighth to get even, then birdied [holes] 10, 11, and 13 to get to three-under, so it gave me the cushion I needed.”

It was an extra special day for Stillwell and his teammates, as the Titans qualified for the state tournament as the runner-up to Western Albemarle.

“I’m happy,” Stillwell said. “We didn’t play our best [round], but it was good enough. Not bad, at all.”

Douglass, Roger Repasky, Pace, Heritage’s Ryan O’Sullivan and Loudoun Valley’s Ian Hildebrand (a state placer last season) will join Western Albemarle and Dominion as individual qualifiers. The last spot will be decided this morning between Charlottesville’s Phillip Hoffman, Kettle Run’s Chase Rathbone, and Brentsville's Lance Keiser. The trio was pulled from the course after one playoff hole due to lightning, and the heavy rain that followed prevented the group from finishing their playoff round.