Springside Chestnut Hill Academy senior Wyatt Smith (left) holes a putt on the ninth green as Germantown Academy junior Gaven Giampalmi lines up his own shot. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Due to a rained-out event back in September, last Tuesday’s boys’ golf gathering at Sunnybrook Golf Club was only the second Inter-Ac League match of the 2015 season.

As in the first outing at Huntingdon Valley Country Club (Penn Charter’s home course) back on September 24, the Main Line teams topped the standings at Sunnybrook, where Springside Chestnut Hill Academy played the host. Malvern Prep, which had edged Haverford School at Huntingdon Valley, 235-239, also won last Tuesday’s competition, shooting a 234 while Haverford and Episcopal Academy tied for the runner-up spot with scores of 245.

Eight players compete for each school, and the top six rounds count towards the team score. Penn Charter put up a team tally of 258 to place fourth at Sunnybrook last week, while Springside Chestnut Hill was fifth with a score of 272, one stroke ahead of sixth-place Germantown Academy. Beautiful warm weather graced the proceedings, with little wind.

Individually, Malvern senior Marty McGuckin topped the leaderboard with a one-under 35, while Episcopal sophomore Jon Nolan Perry came in at even par to place second. Sharing a score of 37 were Malvern freshman John Updike and Haverford senior Max Siegfried, who had won at Huntingdon Valley with the same score.

Two players from area schools who made it around in under 40 strokes were GA junior team captain Gaven Giampalmi and PC sophomore Brian Isztwan, who each carded a 38. Charter junior Joey Centeno got close with a 41.

The best scores for SCH were the 43’s carded by senior Andrew Kasian and junior Ian Diaz. Blue Devils senior Wyatt Smith had shot well at the first Inter-Ac event, tying Malvern’s McGuckin for second with a 39, but last week his home course was not kind to him, as he reached the clubhouse with a 47.

Identical scores were produced two of his younger teammates, Parker Popky, a junior, and Justin Dougherty, who is only in eighth grade. Junior Brian Vogt had a slightly better round to contribute to the SCH team score, making the circuit in 45 strokes.

After Isztwan and Centeno, Penn Charter was able to get its other four scores around the course with figures of 46 or better. The 46 belonged to sophomore Noah Schwartz, while his classmate Dante DiStafano came in with a 45. Completing the Quakers’ tally were a pair of 44’s from senior captain Paul Glatz and 10th-grader Archie Filshill.

Charter has a strong concentration of sophomores this season; there are seven of them on the 12-man squad.

Going down the list of figures produced for GA, following Giampalmi’s 38 you found official scores scattered through the mid and upper 40’s. Senior Tyler Andra produced a 45, while junior Jack Petersohn, one of the Patriots’ top golfers, was a bit off his game, with a 46. Filling out the rest of Germantown’s total were sophomores Drew Hoeppner (47) and Ryan Booth (48), and freshman Nick Schnur (49).