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Kreps, Vivo win Greatest Golfer 17-U titles; Stevens, Taylor 14-U champs
By STEVE WILAJ
HOWLAND
Cade Kreps notched a strong 74 on Friday, but left the opening round of the Flynn Automotive Group Juniors Greatest Golfer of the Valley championship at Squaw Creek unsatisfied.
“I wasn’t hitting it well, so I saw my coach [Saturday] morning,” he said. “We kind of just straightened some things out and I came here with a ton of confidence.”
Kreps turned his last-minute preparations into a boys 17-U Greatest Golfer championship, shooting a 71 at Avalon Lakes on Saturday to finish with a two-round first-place score of 146. Also, Jenna Vivo won the girls 17-U division with a two-round score of 167 (83 on Saturday), while Conner Stevens won the boys 14-U with an 81 and Olivia Taylor won the girls 14-U with a 105.
“I played a lot better last year than I did this year,” said Vivo, a Boardman High sophomore who finished second in 2015. “I struggled with a lot of things this year, but I still kept my composure and came out with the trophy, so I’m happy.”
Said Kreps, a Boardman High junior: “It’s always a good feeling winning — especially when it’s close to home and it’s all your buddies playing in the same tournament.”
Saturday concluded the spring- and summer-long event that began in late May and included six qualifying rounds. The 17-U championships featured 12 qualifiers from each division.
Brian Terlesky, another Spartans junior, shot a 72 at Avalon and finished second in the boys 17-U with a 147. Ken Keller of Cardinal Mooney shot a 74 and finished with a third-place 148.
Meanwhile, Canfield’s Hannah Keffler took a 79 on Saturday to finish with a second-place score of 169 among the 17-U girls, while Mathews’ Emily Koehler shot an 87 to finish with a third-place 173 (Gillian Cerimele shot a 173 as well, although Koehler had the advantage in the scorecard playoff).
Kreps entered Saturday trailing R.J. Pozzuto by three strokes. However, the Wilmington High sophomore took an 82, while Kreps made four birdies.
“I just tried to hit as many greens as possible and give myself as many opportunities as I could,” he said. “Then whatever happened, happened.”
Vivo, meanwhile, wasn’t entirely happy with her performance, although she did birdie No. 12 and made a long par putt on No. 10 to get her going.
“My driver wasn’t bad and my irons worked pretty well, but I struggled more than I would have liked,” Vivo said. “But the competition was really, really competitive this year, so I’m just really happy I came out with the win.”
In the boys 14-U finals — a nine-player, one-day competition — Michael Porter took second with an 84, while Luke Nord finished third with a 93. As for the girls 14-U finals — a three-player, one-day competition — Kate Brown placed second with a 107 and Jayne Bernard was third with a 111.
Stevens birdied three holes on his way to victory, while Taylor was keyed by a strong front nine.
“It feels good to win, but to be honest, I could have played a lot better,” said Stevens, a Brookfield High freshman. “I couldn’t really get anything going. But knowing that I won, this means a lot.”
Said the Niles High sophomore Taylor: “I’m happy. I just played my best and it worked out for me. Everyone played well, though. I had some good drives and my fairway stuff was good.”
Rounding out the boys 17-U was: Cole Christman (77-151), Pozzuto (82-153), Bobby Jonda (79-157), Anthony Graziano (76-160), Jimmy Graham (79-162), Dean Austalosh (78-164), Zach Jacobson (80-165), Bryan Kordupel (85-169) and Joey Vitali (87-171).
As for the girls 17-U: Cerimele (83-173), Britney Jonda (84-174), Sydney Heinbaugh (94-179), Jenna Jacobson (96-191), Carmel Cerimele (90-191), Erika Hoover (99-193), Victoria Messuri (94-202), Emily Marcavish (106-204) and Kaci Carpenter (disqualified).
And the boys 14-U: Cameron Colbert (94), Bobby Smallwood (95), Jacob Sylak (97), Robert Shelton (99), Angelo Cestone (101) and Connor Sigler (102).
This is the seventh season for Greatest Golfer, and it has grown from an event serving 90 golfers to now impacting 3,000 golfers, 12 golf courses and 24 charities.