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08 25
2022 Prep football: Atlee at Henrico 7:00 p.m.
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08 25
2022 Prep football: Deep Run at Mechanicsville 7:00 p.m.
| Youth, High School, College, Recreational & Professional
County golfers get in swing of new season
By Dave Lawrence Sports Editor
GLEN ALLEN — While most of Hanover County’s high school athletes are beginning their Fall 2022 seasons this week, the county’s prep golfers are beginning the fourth week of their competitive season.
On Monday, the county’s four golf teams met in one of the highlights of their respective seasons, the county quad tournament, which was held this year at The Crossings. (The results of the quad will be reported on in next week’s edition of The Local as it was still going on as of the time this edition went to press.)
This year is an unusual one for the county’s golf teams, as every team lacks much of a very desired ingredient: experience. The teams are led by underclassmen, some with postseason experience, many without.
They still expect to hold their own against opponents in what is arguably the toughest region in the Virginia High School League: Region 4B.
Hanover has the largest contingent of the county teams.
“I have a very balanced team,” said Hanover head golf coach Phil Hein. “I’ve got eight kids fighting to start every day. I’ve got a large team. I’ve got 14 guys and eight girls and then I’ve got a ninth girl who’s an eighth grader, so she’s technically a practice player. It’s a big team but lots of talent.”
The Hawks competed in the Dr. Jack Frable High School Invitational at Independence
Joel Klein for The Local
Atlee sophomore Laddie Decker (left) and Hanover’s Walker McLamb watch Decker’s drive on the second hole of the Hanover County quad at The Crossings Monday. The quad kicked off the fourth week of the 2022 prep golf season.
Golf Club on Aug. 15-16. They finished sixth of the eight teams, behind winner Deep Run (Region 5B), Cosby (Region 6A), Langley (Region 6D), Monacan (Region 4B) and Jamestown (Region 4A); and ahead of James River (Region 6A) and Potomac Senior (Region 6B).
Of those, Langley is the reigning VHSL Class 6 state champion for the past six years; Jamestown was Class 4 runner up last year and champion from 2018-2020; and Deep Run was a five-time consecutive Class 5 state champion from 20152019.
“It was a pretty strong field,” Hein said.
The Hawks were led by Trevor Yager, who shot a 12-over 156 during the twoday tournament to finish in a tie for 11th place. Walker McLamb and Paul McNally shot a 24-over 168 to finish in a tie for 22nd.
“McLamb has been playing well, you know,” Hein said. “He’s a very balanced player so he’s
Dave Lawrence/The Local
Atlee’s J.P. Burkett chips onto the green on the ninth and fi nal hole in a match with Glen Allen at The Dominion Club Thursday afternoon.
see GOLFERS, pg. 18 The Mechanicsville Local August 24, 2022 17
Cross country schedule
(Selected local events only) Aug. 31
Patrick Henry Relays at Patrick Henry H.S., 5 p.m.
Sept. 10
Pole Green XC Classic at Pole Green Park, 8:30 a.m.
Sept. 17
The RVA Relays at Pole Green Park, 4:30 p.m.
Sept. 28
Capital District meet at Hanover H.S., TBD
Oct. 1
Patrick Henry Invitational at Poor Farm Park, 9:30 a.m.
Oct. 5
Capital District meet at Poor Farm Park, 5:30 p.m.
Oct. 15
Milestat.com XC Invitational at Pole Green Park, 8:30 a.m.
Nov. 2
Region 4B championships at Pole Green Park, 2 p.m.
Nov. 12
VHSL Class 4 state championships at Oatlands Plantation, Leesburg, 1 p.m.
Sources: MileStat.com, CapitalDistrictVA.org and VHSL.org
Dave Lawrence/The Local
Atlee’s Grayson Heraldo attempts to putt out on the ninth and fi nal hole of a match with Glen Allen at The Dominion Club Thursday. Heraldo carded a 12-over 48.
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GOLFERS
Continued from pg. 17
been playing the [No. 1] spot. McNally’s been playing in the 2-spot and Yager’s been playing in the 3-spot for me so far.”
Atlee, which has normally had an ample supply of experienced golfers, is being led by a talented sophomore, Laddie Decker.
“We have two returning players, only one (Decker) that had played in any matches last year,” said first-year Raider head coach Alan Myers. “Everybody else is new.”
In a match against Glen Allen at The Dominion Club Thursday, Decker led Atlee by shooting a 3-over 39. Teddy Buchanan, a junior, shot a 44 and Grayson Heraldo, a sophomore, shot a 48. A senior, Carter Salapka, shot a 50.
“We have a lot of young guys, for sure,” Myers said. “This is my first year, so I don’t know where everybody went, but I know that we lost a bunch of seniors last year. Apparently we didn’t have much of a pipeline behind those, so we’re starting again with young guys.”
Patrick Henry head coach Dave Hudak finds his Patriots in a similar situation.
“We’re pretty young in experience,” Hudak said. “We had five seniors last year. So really what we’re looking at is maybe one guy that played in all the matches and another one that played in maybe half. Then everybody else is pretty new. They’re either brand new or they played in, like, one or two matches, so we’re kind of starting over.”
The Patriots are led by senior Jackson Burr.
“Jackson Burr’s shooting pretty steady,” Hudak said. “He’ll shoot in the high 30s (in a nine-hole match) and then we just have to get three or four players shoot in the low 40s. … It’s not awful. It’s actually better than I thought at this point. They’re shooting now what I thought they’d be capable of shooting in September.”
Mechanicsville has a couple of familiar faces at the top of its leaderboard: juniors Madison Lehr and Meg Lavinder. The two girls led the Mustangs last year and head coach Tyler Johnson expects them to do the same this year.
“They’ll lead the charge for us,” Johnson said. “We’ve only had one match so far (prior to this week) and Madison was 1-under at Queenfield and, I think, Meg was 3-over. So, you know, a 35 and a 39 to start the year was pretty good.”
Johnson suspects Cooper Blanchard, a junior, to be the Mustangs’ No. 3.
“He played a little bit last year and he’s got some experience,” Johnson said. “He’s got a little bit of an injury, a back injury, but he’s getting back into it and I think he’ll settle in as our No. 3.”
Dave Lawrence can be reached at dlawrence@mechlocal.com.
Joel Klein for The Local
