JOHNSTOWN — Ty Gilbert was not sure if Mitch Bolte was happier about his score or when the Newark boys golf team could meet him at Roosters.
Gilbert, however, certainly did not mind gloating Thursday. The Newark junior fired a 70 at The Links at Echo Springs, earning medalist honors during the season-opening Utica Invitational.
“All summer, I was going out to Trout Club and just kind of horsing around and playing,”said Gilbert, who along with sophomore Grady Fields will attempt to take the lead role held by the graduated Bolte, who was Newark’s first Division I district qualifier since 2012 last fall.
“Sometimes, you are just going to play bad,” Gilbert added. “But when you are playing good and get those shots dialed, it comes really easy.”
Gilbert lowered his career best from 75, which he set in the sectional tournament last season. He started on No. 1 and recorded his only bogey on the Par-3 No. 4 before he notched three birdies the rest of the way.
“I woke up, and my back kind of hurt. If anything, I was worried I was going to shoot real high, but everything seemed to come off the face on the range,” Gilbert said. “From hole 9 to about hole 12, I was on in three or two, and I had a bunch of putts for birdie. Some of them just didn’t go in, but it was a stretch that gave me a bunch of confidence in myself.”
It was a day of eye-opening scores as Johnstown put three players in the 70s to earn the team championship. The Johnnies totaled 317, edging out Centerburg’s 320 and Newark Catholic’s 327.
Sophomore Will Taylor shot out of the gate with an eagle on No. 10. He eventually finished with a 76.
“The par-5s here are reachable, so I try to go for them. It was a good starting hole,” Taylor said. He later overcame a double-bogey on No. 3.
“You just can’t completely tank,” he added. “You have to make sure you at least salvage something, so you have a good score to contribute.”
Senior Max Groves was right behind Taylor at 77 for the Johnnies. Junior Braeden Archibald shot 79, and freshman Keaton Archibald at 85 and sophomore Max Mitchell at 87 followed.
“It’s been really nice to get out and play a little more,” said Groves, whose time previously was split between golf and football. “I have been happy with the low scores. We have a relatively young team. As long as we can keep the team looking fresh and stay in the 70s, we can stick under that 320 mark and maybe make it somewhere.”
Centerburg’s Bennett Hill shot 74 to trail Gilbert, and NC senior Brogan Sullivan matched Taylor’s 76.
Sullivan’s start could not have been more opposite than Taylor’s. Sullivan, however, rebounded from opening triple-bogey on No. 4 to shoot 1-over par the rest of the way.
“It was definitely a battle the whole day. Some of these holes will eat you up,” said Sullivan, one of just two returning varsity players from the Green Wave’s back-to-back Division III state runner-up finishes.
“The first match, the team did well,” Sullivan added. “We didn’t really have too many expectations for today.”
Utica sophomore Jaxson Riggs shot 78, and Fields and NC junior Bobby Kieber each were next at 79. Licking Valley sophomore Jackson Gieseler shot 82 and Northridge sophomore Anthony Davis 84.
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Licking County boys golfers emerge in opening Utica Invitational
