The Tide may have snuck into the Division I championship with the final spot, but Concord didn’t play like it on Tuesday.
Junior Zach Nelson led the Tide tying for third place, in Concord’s fourth-place finish at the D-I golf championship at Canterbury Woods.
Morning rain delayed the start by 45 minutes, but when all was said and done Bedford repeated as D-I champions, with the Bulldogs’ five scorers combining for a 21-over 381. Bishop Guertin (398), Hanover (401), Concord (403) and Pinkerton (405) rounded out a tightly-contested top five.
Nelson shot a 2-over 74, four strokes behind the leader, Bedford senior Henry Dubois (2-under 70). Bishop Guertin’s Aaron Ackerman finished second at par 72, while Bishop Guertin’s Owen Murphy and Bedford’s Aaryan Narang tied with Nelson for third.
Nelson was the only Concord golfer to make the top 16 to qualify for the second round of the D-I individual championship, which will be played Saturday morning at Beaver Meadow Golf Course.
“We had some great play from Zach,” said Concord head coach Mark McDonough. “He’s led the team all season and today was no exception.”
Tide sophomore Cam Bobrow was one of seven players tied at 8-over 80 who contested a playoff round to determine the final two spots. Bobrow bogeyed the second playoff hole to just miss the cut.
Bobrow, a first-year member of the squad, had only finished as Concord’s second-best scorer in one match and had a breakout day at the championship.
Sophomore Parker Lamb, and seniors Tyler Morin and Logan Hayes all tied for 29th, carding 83, to complete Concord’s scoring.
Freshman Henry Diaz (87), and seniors Jack Brien (93) and Kale Washburn (96) also represented the Tide.
“This was a rebuilding year for us having graduated six of eight players that made states last season,” McDonough said. “Proud of all the CHS team for climbing up the leaderboard to secure a top-four spot.”
Division II
Up north at the Mountain Washington Resort Golf Club, the Bow Falcons competed for the D-II title. The start time was postponed an hour due to rain, but that didn’t seem to matter to the Falcons, who came away with a fourth-place finish.
“Conditions relatively held out,” Bow head coach Matt Davis said. “I thought we, as a team, played well. I thought we’d finish around that fourth spot and grinded out five scores.”
Portsmouth (17-over 377) edged defending champions Souhegan (378) by a single stroke for the title, while St. Thomas (389) was third, a good distance ahead of Bow (416), Oyster River (417) and Hollis-Brookline (420).
Bow junior Jake Gancarz tied for sixth with a score of 2-over 74, the only area competitor to make the cut for Saturday’s second round at Beaver Meadow.
The conditions deteriorated in the second half of the round, but that’s when Gancarz played his best, shooting 1-under through the last five holes.
“When we teed off it was really comfortable. No rain, very little wind,” Davis said. “Ten holes in it started to flip a little bit … This was by far (Gancarz’s) best round as an individual in his high school career. “He’d have a bogey, but then would have either a par or birdie. He really played well.”
Gancarz tied for the most birdies, collecting five over the 18 holes.
Portsmouth junior Grey Gagnon shot 3-under 69 to have a three-stroke lead over co-runner-ups Jacob Wilson of Souhegan and Thijs Beelen of Portsmouth.
Junior Sean Walton (83), senior Brendan O’Keeffe (84), junior Brady Anderson (86) and junior Bryce Nichols (89) were Bow’s other scorers.
Merrimack Valley sophomore Colton Magoon shot an 81, just one stroke below the cut.
Sophomore Logan McCullen (84) also competed for MV, while senior Zac Bemis (86) and sophomore Colbin Barker (95) represented Pembroke.