The Clarkston Wolves followed a top ten showing at the Oakland County meet on Sept. 29 with a first place finish at the district round of the state playoffs on Oct. 5 at Heather Highlands Golf Club in Holly.
The Wolves shot 309 strokes and took the meet over 12 other teams. Grand Blanc and Rochester Adams tied for second place with 318 strokes and county champs of one week ago, Waterford Kettering took fourth place.
Lake Orion and Rochester round out the top six finishers from the event who will move on to the regional playoffs on Oct. 12 at Flushing Valley Golf and Country Club. The group will meet the top six teams out of the Bay City Central district.
In 2004, the Wolves finished 10th in the state and last season they placed 6th in the state.
All of Clarkston’s four players scores tallied for the total in the five player match scored in the high 70’s with Matt Fuller leading the way with a round of 76. Brandon Stone shot 77, Blake Schmidt shot 78 and Chris Graczyk scored a 78.
Fuller is the only member of this young Clarkston team with post-season experience and is expected to be a role model for teammates.
‘He’s one of the leaders of the team’it’s always nice to have that,? Clarkston Coach Mark Wiegand said.
Wiegand was proud of the way the team won in such a competitive group.
‘We played solid, that’s for sure. It was nice to get a victory in a tournament like that,? Wiegand said.
Preceding the playoffs, Clarkston defeated Troy High School at Sylvan Glen Golf Course in Troy on Oct. 3, 157-168.
‘I was very proud of how they played after last week,? Wiegand said. ‘We played smarter golf than in the past (and we used) better course management.?
Wiegand expects tough competition from Rochester Adams and Grand Blanc out of their district’s top finishers and a challenge from Midland-Dow High School from their pool of new competition.