Cape golf team finishes twelfth in States in Smarrelli’s last season
June 11, 2010
The Cape Henlopen High School varsity golf team closed out another winning season June 2, with a twelfth-place finish in the state championship held at Maple Dale Country Club in Dover.
Sixteen teams qualified for the two-day 36-hole tournament, along with 24 individual golfers from non-qualifying schools. The top four scorers from each school, and the high-finishing individuals, play the second round. Two schools, Tatnall and St. Georges, did not finish the second day’s round, which is highly unusual.
Concord High School in the north Wilmington suburbs won the tournament with a 629 score. Cape’s 717 total also put the Vikings in fifth place among the six Henlopen Conference teams that participated.
Among individual players, however, Cape sophomore Shane Ghigliotty scored the best among all of the Henlopen Conference golfers, with a 78-81-159 eighth place finish, eight strokes back of Matt DiEleuterio of Concord, the state champion.
“My first round wasn’t too bad,” Ghigliotty said, “but I had two double bogeys on both par 3s.” His second round, in hot conditions, included two 8s on the ninth and eighteenth holes. “The pin placements were tougher than the first day, and the tees were set way back,” Ghigliotty said.
Devin Medd shot an 88 and then a 93 for a 181 total, second best among the Vikings. Senior co-captain Connor Jones had a 91 for his first round, and a 97 in the second eighteen. Nick Purnell shot a 90 the first day, but struggled to a 99 for his second eighteen.
Ghigliotty’s performance this season earned him a second-team placement in the Henlopen All-Conference selections, but his high placement in the State championship may also bring him additional honors.
Casey Anderson also earned an Honorable Mention in the All-Conference selections.
Head Coach Claudio Smarrelli announced that this was his last season as the Vikings’ varsity coach. “I enjoyed it, but it’s time for me to move on,” Smarrelli said. “I want to express my appreciation to the golf community for their support, including Rehoboth Beach and Kings Creek CCs, as well as the YMCA and Boulevard Auto, for helping me keep the kids out of the rough. There’s a good team coming back, and I think they’ll do well.”
Smarrelli developed a fine competitive record with the Vikings from 2005 through 2010, taking the reins from Corey Groll’s Henlopen Conference-winning team in 2004. His 2005 squad earned a 12-2 match record, and finished in 8th place in the states.
The 2006 team finished 16th in the states, but Smarrelli’s squad bounced back to a seventh place spot in the 2007 championship. The 2008 and 2009 squads had identical 12-4 records, along with 12th place finishes in the state tournament, and this year’s team finished with a 10-4 match record for the season.
Smarrelli remains an avid golfer himself. In fact, he recently beat Nick DelCampo, the Vikings’ varsity volleyball coach, in a Kings Creek CC tournament.
Scholarship winners
The Delaware State Golf Association Scholarship Fund announced the winners of the Robert McCurry Annual Awards.
The scholarships invoke the memory of a long-time member of the Fund Board, who was a major supporter of junior golf in the Cape Region and elsewhere.
First place for 2010, totaling $14,000, went to Christina Vosters of Bethany Beach. Sarah May of Millsboro was awarded the second place, worth $12,000. Andy Garcia of Middletown was given the third place scholarship, for $6,000. Benjamin Batemen of Lewes and J. R. Fasy, Jr., of West Grove, Pennsylvania were both awarded fourth place scholarships, worth $4,000.