Posted: November 28, 2012

James Wood’s Al Smith — The Winchester Star Golf Coach of the Year for the first time — led the Colonels to their first Northwestern District regular season title since 2009 and their first district tournament title in recent memory. Smith, who was named Northwestern District Golf Coach of the Year, saw his team win one district mini tournament, the Skyline Hawks Invitational, and sweep all four district dual matches. James Wood had the district’s best finishes at the Curly Licklider and Bryan Gunter tournaments and placed seventh in the Region II tournament.
Q. More than half of this year’s James Wood top six consistently played in the top six last year. What were the expectations coming in?

Smith: They were high. Even though Sherando lost a lot from last year, we figured them and us would be the top two. As the season went on we knew we had a shot to win the regular season title. After we lost the district mini at Winchester Country Club the day Will [Holmes] hurt his foot [on Aug. 20, to put Sherando ahead in the district race], we talked about how much we still wanted it, and we came back strong.

Q. What stands out about this season?

Smith: Everyone was constantly working hard to improve, and everyone was very competitive. I do things a little differently than other coaches. We have qualifiers before every tournament we play in, so you have to prove yourself constantly. We’ll make exceptions if you win a tournament, because I want my best golfers out there. But I think our competitiveness in practice helps us try and be No. 1 as a team in every tournament we play in.

Q. Any particular tournament that you thought was significantly important?

Smith: Winning the first district mini at Rock Harbor was big, but I’d say the Bryan Gunter was the most important. (James Wood took fourth, best in the district, one spot ahead of Sherando.) We looked at Sherando more than any other team, so to beat them (three days after losing the second district mini to the Warriors) was big for the team.

Q. Most memorable moment?

Smith: There were a lot, but I think having three golfers tie for first at the district tournament (Thomas Papastavrou, Roger Repasky, Holmes) to help us win, that was pretty special. They just went out there and did what they needed to do.

Q. James Wood brings back The Northwestern District Golfer of the Year (Holmes), the Northwestern District champion (Papastavrou), and the district’s only Group AA state qualifier (Repasky). What do you see going forward for next year based on who’s returning?

Smith: Expectations will be high again. Russell Repasky is really the only one we’ll lose who was in our lineup at the end of the year, and hopefully we’ll have some people step up. And I think the team is really going to benefit from having so many good players pushing each other to get better.

— Compiled by Robert Niedzwiecki