Last year, Nature Coast’s boys and girls golf teams captured district championships on the same day. On Monday, they did it again.
At Brooksville Country Club, the Lady Sharks shot a 386, an incredible 168 strokes lower than second-place Fivay at 554, posting five of the seven best individual scores in the Class 2A, District 13 Tournament.
“I’m proud of the girls, obviously,” Nature Coast girls coach Dave Pisarcik said. “They’ve been working hard since August. We’ve been preparing all year for this tournament. So I’m really happy with the outcome and the way our girls played; 18 holes, that’s a long day. These guys have been working hard all year and they showed up today.
“Pretty much everybody shot around their averages or a little lower. I think we played not our best golf, but we played good enough to be able to pull out another trophy, back-to-back championships.”
Junior Skyler Muscianese carded an 86 for her own repeat as district champion, after she was the runner-up as a freshman. She was six strokes better than teammate Alexis Dross, who totaled a second-place 92.
“It shows how much we worked at it over the season,” Muscianese. “It was a big goal for me (to win districts). My biggest goal is going to states with my team.
“I could have shot maybe a little bit better. I kind of blew up on some holes that I wasn’t confident on. … My chipping, I was pretty satisfied with it. It wasn’t bad. It saved me a little bit.”
“I just love the way Skyler stepped up. Another big tournament, a lot of pressure to be able to perform,” Pisarcik said. “It shows what kind of kid she is and how her work ethic is. To be able to win it back-to-back is an impressive feat.”
Haley Neuhausen and Alexa Dono both produced a 104 to round out Nature Coast’s team score. Dawn Posey’s 110 was dropped, yet she scored lower than all but two players on any other team.
Next the Lady Sharks will head to regionals, which will take place this Monday at Crescent Oaks Golf Club in Tarpon Springs.
“I think going to regionals last year, we realized how close we were,” Pisarcik said. “We now know what it takes to be able to get there. Our goal now is we have to finish in the top three. We want to qualify as a team in regionals and we want to go to states as a team.
“I think that’s where we’re at right now with our mindset. We want to be able to get back on the course, start working on some of our weaknesses or some of the things we didn’t do well today, so we don’t repeat them when it comes to regionals. Qualifying as a team, it’d be nice to be able to go to states and bring the whole team.”
Springstead shot a collective 556 to finish third and snag the final regional qualifying spot. Victoria Normandin paced the Lady Eagles at 121, followed by Rowen Navdini (135), Kayleigh Marquet (144) and Kaitlyn Ledington (156).
Hernando just missed advancing with a 560, though Ashley Carter’s 107 and Morgan Blair’s 140 allowed them to qualify as individuals. Central’s Jenna Hayden shot a 135 to also earn a regional berth.
At the boys 2A-13 Tournament, played at Meadow Oaks Golf and Country Club in Hudson, Nature Coast garnered a district three-peat, scoring a 345 but only winning by five strokes over Central (350).
Chris Felts notched an 83 for the Sharks, with Mickie Dono adding an 85, Eric Forest an 87 and Kevin Giardino a 90.
“It was a rough day but I’m relieved that the team played well enough to win,” Nature Coast boys coach Tom Brown said. “A lot of scores were higher than I thought they would be. We were struggling but I think everybody was. It was very windy. It was a short, narrow course.”
Hernando senior Zayne Vasquez was the individual medalist with a 78, though the Leopards did not qualify for regionals as a team.
“It felt amazing, especially my final year of high school,” said Vasquez, who thanked his friends and family for their support. “I’ve been correcting mistakes that shouldn’t have been made, but they were. But thank God for allowing me to play as well as I did.
“It was a pretty big goal, but my biggest goal is to make it past regionals and hopefully to states.”
Central’s second-place showing was led by freshman Shane Smith at 82, helped by Alex Fredenburg (85), Phoenix Morey (87) and Austin McKinney (96).
Springstead is also headed to regionals, taking third at 357. Brett Maharaj shot an 86, Ryan Maharaj and Wyatt Van Meter both carded an 87, and Bradley Pearce scored a 98.