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Courtesy photo The Fort Frye High School golf team advanced to state for the first time in school history Monday at River Greens Golf Course in West Lafayette. The Cadets scored 322 as a team to win the Division III East District championship. The state tournament will take place Oct. 14 and 15 at NorthStar Golf Club in Sunbury.
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Photo by Seth Staskey Fort Frye’s Kelson McCurdy lines up a putt during a high school golf match earlier this season.
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Photo by Kerry Patrick Parkersburg Catholic golfer Blake Lewis, left, and Wheeling Central Catholic’s Justin Doerr take a break from the action during last week’s Class A regional at Mingo Bottom Golf Club in Elizabeth. After the first day of the W.Va. high school state tournament Tuesday in Wheeling, W.Va. Lewis leads the Class A field by one stroke. Doerr turned in the low round for a Maroon Knight squad which leads second-place St. Mary’s in the team standings.
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Photo by Jay W. Bennett Fort Frye’s Madyson Long (32) spikes the ball as teammates Kasey Lang (3) and Jenna White (9) look on during the Cadets’ three set sweep of Williamstown on Tuesday evening.
Courtesy photo The Fort Frye High School golf team advanced to state for the first time in school history Monday at River Greens Golf Course in West Lafayette. The Cadets scored 322 as a team to win the Division III East District championship. The state tournament will take place Oct. 14 and 15 at NorthStar Golf Club in Sunbury.
BEVERLY — For the first time in school history, Fort Frye’s varsity golf team has qualified for the state tournament.
The Cadets turned in a team score of 322 at Monday’s Division III East District tournament at River Greens Golf Course in West Lafayette, besting runner-up Hiland by 15 strokes. That earned FFHS a spot in next week’s state tourney at NorthStar Golf Course in Sunbury on Oct. 14 and 15.
Prior to this season, no Cadets golf team had qualified for state, and only three Fort golfers made it as individuals. Among those three are current head coach Tony O’Linn, a 2004 graduate of Fort Frye.
“This is my first year coaching,” O’Linn said. “(Getting to state) is definitely something we’ve been talking about since day one. This was an upfront goal of ours, and it’s incredible to achieve.”
Fort Frye senior Dawson Layton and freshman Chatum Corson both scored 79 to earn co-runner-up Medalist honors. Senior Kelson McCurdy and junior Brandon Dye turned in 82s, while senior and No. 5 golfer Jackson Lowe carded a 97.
Photo by Seth Staskey Fort Frye’s Kelson McCurdy lines up a putt during a high school golf match earlier this season.
O’Linn knew coming in Fort Frye returned a solid group from last year, but the addition of the ninth-grader Corson has helped solidify the Cadets’ roster.
“That’s what has kind of been the difference for us,” O’Linn said. “We’ve put him in that fourth spot with seniors Dawson and Kelson at one and two. Chatum could easily play No. 1, but knowing you’re always going to get good, if not great, scores from that fourth spot is pretty rare.”
Entering this fall, O’Linn’s only coaching experience involved tee ball. He was a state-qualifying golfer in 2003 for the Cadets and went on to play four years at Muskingum. He’s been around golf for a long time and was excited to lead his alma mater.
“For me, it’s cool to come back as one of the three individuals to go to state and to now be coaching the first team that makes it,” he said.
“We knew how good they could be. It was my job to keep them level. This was the goal from day one, so there’s a lot of pressure with that. I felt it as a coach. When you hear ‘you’ve got a chance at state’ all summer,’ it took some concentration. You still have to work for it. It’s not going to be given to you.
“It means a lot to the kids. This team is going to be talked about for years down the road. You never know when another team will do it. It’s such a good way to go out, especially for these seniors. This is once in a lifetime.”
As of Tuesday, there were still district results yet to be played out. Once the field is settled, O’Linn will have a better idea of how the Cadets stack up. If they play to the best of their ability, he’s confident they can have success at the state level.
“This is uncharted waters for us,” O’Linn said. “We’re not going to change too much. I’ve been telling the boys all year that it’s all about the short game. Chipping and putting is how you score. We’ll work on the putting green at Lakeside, hit some balls off the driving range and try to prepare them for next week. I’ve been telling them it’s just another day of golf. Just another round. Trying not to put too much pressure on it. I want them to have fun up there.”
Fort Frye will travel to NorthStar on Thursday, Oct. 13, for a practice round to get a feel for the course.
“It could be one of the more difficult courses they’ve seen,” O’Linn said. “They can compete, it’s just whether or not they can put it all together.”
How the Cadets perform at the state level remains to be seen, but there’s no question this group has already done something very special.
“This is the best team collectively that I feel Fort Frye has ever had,” O’Linn said. “I’ve been around Fort Frye a long time. We’ve had decent teams and good players, but to have this good of a group doesn’t happen very often.”
Jordan Holland can be reached at [email protected].
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