NSA golf looks to states
Published 9:53 pm Thursday, May 15, 2014
The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy golf team did not achieve the result it was hoping for in the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools championship on Monday in Portsmouth. But it did produce three all-conference honorees and a squad hungry for a win this coming Monday in the state championship.
Out of four teams competing on May 12, “We were very disappointed in the overall standing,” NSA head coach Katie Murphy said. “We came in fourth. It certainly wasn’t what we felt we were capable of.”
Greenbrier Christian Academy came away with the TCIS championship, producing a team score of 296. Cape Henry Collegiate School shot a 299, Norfolk Academy had a 302 and Nansemond-Suffolk shot a 303.
Junior Will Comer, sophomore Thomas Meyers and senior Trey Wren all registered strong 18-hole rounds, but Murphy said her team struggled to produce a quality fourth individual score to complete the team score.
Noting the strength of the competition, she said, “All of us walked into the day knowing that four teams could potentially win it.”
Those four teams, plus Hampton Roads Academy, make the TCIS a haven of elite VISAA Division I and II teams. That, coupled with the fact that NSA’s competition at the state championship will be limited to Division II teams, means the fourth-place finish has not discouraged the Saints about this coming Monday.
Wren said in the Division II rankings, “We’re still No. 1 in the state,” while Comer added, “We feel like we can have a very good showing at states.”
“Norfolk Academy and Cape Henry are both Division I, so we don’t have to beat them,” Wren said. “It’s basically us versus Greenbrier, that we know of,” not completely discounting the notion of a surprise challenger in the field.
Making the All-TCIS first team in golf means finishing among the top 10 individual golfers in the TCIS championship.
“Certainly Trey, Will and Thomas all played outstanding and to have three of my six make all-conference and for us to come in fourth as a team, that says a lot about them,” Murphy said.
Meyers shot one-over 73 on Monday at Bide-A-Wee Golf Course to receive his All-TCIS honor.
“It feels pretty good,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve gotten all-conference team. I didn’t get to play the last year, and I’m just happy to be back participating in the TCIS tournament.”
Wren went 4-for-4 in his high school career making all-conference, shooting two-over 74.
“It’s nice to play well in the conference tournament four years in a row,” he said.
Comer, who said he has played poorly at the conference championship in the past, made Murphy particularly proud by recovering from a five-over start through the first five holes to finish with a one-over 73.
“It was finally good to play better,” he said.
NSA competes in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II state championship on Monday at The Manor Golf Club in Farmville.