Oak Park Qualifies With a Close Shave

The Oak Park High boys’ golf team advanced to the Southern Section championships by the smallest of margins Monday when the Eagles shot 16-over-par 376 to tie for second in the Northern regional at Soule Park Golf Course in Ojai.

Oak Park, the Tri-Valley League champion, tied Mission League champion Harvard-Westlake in the team standings, but grabbed the second--and last--qualifying spot for the section championships at Saticoy Country Club in Somis on Thursday because the Eagles’ No. 6 player, Anton Nikolic, shot 81 while Harvard-Westlake’s No. 6, Nathan Botwick, shot 86.

Loyola, Mission League runner-up, won the team title with a 367 total as John Callaghan and Ryo Yamada each shot two-under-par 70 to tie for medalist with Tommy Barber of Notre Dame.

Nordhoff, which shot a school-record 359 at Soule Park in March, placed fourth with 378, followed by Highland with 380, Brentwood with 382, Arcadia and Campbell Hall with 384, Hart with 387 and Valencia with 390.

“I felt like we played well,” Nordhoff Coach Dick Sebek said. “It’s our second-lowest score of the season. . . . We definitely would like to have finished two spots higher, but I think that instead of looking at it as a case of what could have been, we should look at it like we played well and finished fourth in a field of 20 that included first-, second- and third-place teams.”

James Logeman led Oak Park with a 71, followed by Kevin Clement at 74, Brandon Beck at 75, Richard Young at 76 and Sean Martin at 80.

Matt Fields and Nick Janneck each shot 73 for Harvard-Westlake, followed by Scott MacDonald at 74, Sean Barrett at 76 and Brian Zelner at 80.

Freshman Anthony Kim shot 71 for Campbell Hall.

Tommy Hajduk and Devlin Thomas of Nordhoff, Brian Edick of Hart, Eric Thomas of Valencia and Michael Park of Crescenta Valley each shot 72.

Central Coast regional--Brian O’Flaherty of Westlake earned medalist honors with a one-under 71, but the Warriors finished a non-qualifying third in the tournament at La Purisima Golf Course in Lompoc.

Atascadero was first with 395, followed by Santa Ynez with 397, Westlake with 402, San Luis Obispo with 409 and Rio Mesa, San Marcos and Ventura at 412.

Chris Gray shot 72 for Rio Mesa. Roy Moon and Scott Fulkerson of Royal each shot 76 to help the Highlanders finish 10th at 418.

Camarillo, the top-ranked team in the region by The Times after an undefeated regular season, tied for 11th with Righetti at 420.

Jeff Riddle shot 79 for Camarillo, but the Scorpions’ next four players finished at 82, 84, 87 and 88.

Central regional--Justin Ohye and Aaron Levine of Calabasas each shot 78 to help the Coyotes finish fourth at 396 at Sun Lakes Country Club in Banning.

Cerritos placed first at 374, followed by Glendora with 387 and Upland with 391.