Best Overall Season In Years For Severna Park Golf

The Severna Park golf team finished the season on a series of high notes as several individuals and the team as a whole produced strong performances at the county, district and state levels.

 

At the county championships at Crofton Country Club on October 5, Severna Park’s Grace Appel shot a 98 to win the individual county title on the girls side, while the Falcon boys contingent of Jordan Strom (third place with a 78), Matt Snowdon (79), Addison Wells (79) and Pete Regala (82) compiled a team score of 318 to tie South River for the team championship.

 

South River’s Joey Gaulin (74) and Chesapeake’s Jack Snyder (75) finished one-two in the boys individual competition and Chesapeake’s Jacquelyn Colangelo finished as runner-up to Appel on the girls side with a 100.

 

At the ensuing District V competition on October 11, also at Crofton Country Club, Strom shot a 78 to place fourth individually while Wells (79, fifth), Snowdon (86) and Matt Verni (87) shot well enough to qualify Severna Park for the state championship tournament, an accomplishment not achieved by the program in over 10 years.

 

Strom, Snowdon, Verni and Wells represented Severna Park at the state tournament in College Park over October 24 and 25. The team as a whole finished tied for ninth after the first day and did not advance to the next round, though Strom and Snowdon advanced as individuals to play on the tournament’s second day. Strom shot 84 and 77 for a combined score of 161 to finish tied for 25th, while Snowdon shot 84 and 81 to make 165 and finish 40th overall.

 

“Anytime you can say that you were co-county champs, second best in your district and ninth best in the state for 3A/4A, that is an awesome season,” said first-year head coach Pete Buck, who credited his Falcons with a diligent pursuit of improvement over the course of the season.

 

“I am extremely proud of the team,” said Buck. “We definitely have taken a step in the right direction. [At the beginning of the season] we had the players set short-term and long-term goals, and I would say 90 percent of everyone’s goals were met. They definitely improved with their course management throughout the year. We had a ton of success as a team and as individuals. I know that all the players feel they got better throughout the year, and that is all you can ask for. Coach Dave Nocar and I did a good job of preparing them for each and every round, but it ultimately came down to the players to execute each shot. They came out every time and showed the ability to score and be successful.”

 

Buck said he’s looking forward to continuing to build the program in hopes of bringing it level with the many successful sports programs at Severna Park High School.

 

“Now it is time to focus on next season, and it is bright,” he said. “Coach Nocar and I are trying to build a successful program here like the other sports at SPHS, and hopefully we have put the golf program on the map for Severna Park.”