Golf
Undefeated in regular league play, Bromfield’s golf team finished seventh at the Division 2 Central District championship at Gardner Municipal Golf Course Tuesday, Oct. 24. Freshman Freddie Curtis qualified for the Division 2 state championship. The event was dampened by on-again, off-again rain, and the team suffered a setback when the Trojans’ fourth-seed player became ill and had to withdraw.
Bromfield was one of 11 six-player teams competing in the championship match. An additional seven individual players from districts without teams also took part, raising the total number of participants to 73. The Nipmuc Regional High School Warriors were district champions for the third straight year with 314 points. Grafton High School took second place, and Bay Path High School earned a third-place finish; each had 320 points, but the tie was broken by comparing the scores of the teams’ fifth-place finishers. Bromfield scored 338.
“Everybody had to deal with [the rain],” Coach Rod Van Guilder wrote in an email to the Press. But just minutes before the start of the match, junior Lance Jarosz, the team’s number four seed, became ill and could not compete. “Had [Jarosz] been able to play, I feel we would have been two strokes behind Grafton and Bay Bath [and placed fourth],” wrote Van Guilder.
The “shining light” was freshman Curtis, wrote Van Guilder. Curtis qualified for the state championship with his score of 77 in a four-way tie for fourth place. Bromfield junior Justin Patenaude carded an 80, and eighth-grader Adrian Curtis posted a score of 82. In the absence of Jarosz, fifth-seed senior Drew Femino’s score of 95 became the fourth and last to be added to Bromfield’s total. “Drew started off with two double bogeys in the rain, which put him under pressure from the start,” wrote Van Guilder.
“All and all the team played [its] best and I am proud of their achievements today and for the entire season. The team is young and our top four players will be back next year with more players seeking a spot on the team,” wrote Van Guilder.
The Division 2 state championship will be held at the Highfields Golf and Country Club in Grafton Oct. 31. Curtis will represent Bromfield, “our team, school, and community,” wrote Van Guilder.
