2017 Curly Licklider Invitational

In a 20-school tournament in which all six scores for each team counted, Clarke County and Sherando tied for eighth with 519 to lead all local schools, and the two teams also bested most of the schools that they’ll be competing with in their respective districts this year.

Led by individual champion Hayden Miller (two-under-par 69 on the Blue and White nines to win by two), Heritage captured the tournament with a 456.

The Pride finished six strokes better than runner-up Loudoun Valley (462). The state power was competing for the first time without Troy Mezzatesta, who is now Handley’s head coach after six years as head coach with the Vikings (see related story).

Rounding out the local team scores were James Wood (13th with a 566), Millbrook (16th with a 655) and Handley, which did not register a team score because Gregg Burton had to withdraw during the middle of his round because of an injury. (The Judges were one of three schools that did not record a team score.) The Judges’ average score of 90.4 was better than the ones posted by five of the teams that did register a team score though.

This is the second straight year that the Licklider is using the format involving six counting scores, and it’s the second straight year that none of the Winchester-Frederick County schools posted a score better than Clarke County’s.

The Eagles were eight strokes better than they were last year when they placed fourth. That’s particularly impressive given that junior Raul Viza-Fernandez — the area’s only state qualifier last year — only posted Clarke County’s fourth-best score on Wednesday with an 84.

The Eagles were led by the three other returners from their top six — junior Zach Koontz led all local golfers with a 75 (tied for 10th overall), senior Cameron Scheib shot a 76 (tied for 12th) and junior Dylan Vess fired an 82.

“I feel like it was a great start to the season,” said Eagles second-year coach Jessica Zimmerman, whose team took fourth in the 2A East Region and second in their conference in 2016. “Zach coming in with that 75 was a great spark for us.”

Koontz shot a 79 at last year’s Licklider, but he said on Wednesday that he typically shot in the low-to-mid 80s last year. The hope is that this year scores like the 75 he shot on Wednesday will be closer to the norm.

“I was dropping a lot of putts, and that helped me out a lot,” said Koontz, who made a 10-foot putt for par on Blue No. 9 after chipping out from the trees on his final hole in the shotgun start format. “I feel like my iron play is a lot stronger than last year.”

Koontz had birdies on the 361-yard par-4 White No. 5 and 364-yard par-4 Blue No. 7. Koontz hit a 102-yard approach shot to within three feet for his birdie on the White Nine.

Zimmerman said Koontz has come a long way in two years.

“He’s worked his butt off,” Zimmerman said. “He didn’t start playing golf until around the time he started high school, and in two years I think he’s dropped his scoring average about 20 shots, so he’s doing really, really well.

“Today he just hit the ball really solid. He had a nice, smooth swing. Sometimes he tries to hit the ball a little bit harder, but today, you just saw him hit smooth. And he putted really well, so that was great too. That 75 today wasn’t a fluke, that’s for sure.”

Viza-Fernandez and Scheib were Winchester Star all-area selections last year, so Koontz’s improvement could mean a big season for Clarke County. The Eagles bested Bull Run District foes Strasburg (531) and Central (576) Wednesday.

“I feel like we’ve all gotten better, and the top three can all shoot in the 70s,” Koontz said. “If we pull together, we could be a good team. We’re trying to go to states this year as a team.”

Sherando lost its top three golfers from last year, but the Warriors had four players shoot 85 or better. Sophomore Caleb Dotson led the way with a 79, and he was followed by junior Brandon Nice (82), senior Ryan Judy (85) and senior Evan Simmons (85).

“Caleb really shot lights out,” Sherando coach Rob Wright said. “He’s really worked hard all year. He’s working with a coach at Raspberry Falls [in Leesburg]. He’s gotten his game down, and is really taking it serious. He was out here an awful during the summer playing, and when I’d run into [Loy] he’d say, ‘You’re not going to believe what a difference there is in his game.’

“Brandon came through. He had a rough start, but I talked to him after the second hole and he really seemed to calm down from there. [Judy’s] going to get better, and Evan shooting an 85 .... last year he was probably shooting 100, 102. Overall, we’re fine with eighth.”

All seven Class 4 teams in the Northwestern District were in action on Wednesday, and Fauquier (513) was the only one the Warriors didn’t beat.

Dodson said Wednesday was his best tournament performance at SVGC.

“I’m striking the ball a lot better with my irons, and putting a lot better than last year,” said Dodson, who made his only birdie of his round on Blue No. 5 with a 35-foot putt off the green.

James Wood figures to be stronger once its at full strength. The Colonels were without senior Tyler Mounts — who has the best stroke average among returning Winchester-Frederick County golfers (82.6) — because Colonels coach David Oates said the school told him he would not be eligible until next week, and sophomore Ethan Russell, who was on vacation.

“We were 24 strokes better than we were last year, and our two best returning golfers weren’t here today,” Oates said. “Last year we were very young, this year we are just young. Our goal today was if we had three scores in the 80s, I would have been happy, and we did that.”

Junior Cameron Baker and his freshman brother Carson each shot an 87, and Jackson Lynch added an 88.

Handley was led by junior Maddi Neff (81) and sophomore Braxton Duvall (88). Millbrook was paced by senior Nick Varcadipane (89).

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