Captain Nick Iuliucci's 79 and more steady play from fellow Hammonton High graduate Connor Eberly (80) carried the Roadrunners to another victory over the entire Region XIX field at Ash Brook Golf Course, home of host Union College of Union County and site of the Region XIX Championships in mid-May. RCSJ Gloucester's Colin Pape (84) and Julian Boyer (85) scored once again for the winners, who posted a team score of 328. The Runners were playing without Andrew Michalski, who after last week's match at Running Deer boasted the low individual scoring average in Region XIX for the season so far.
"We came into this match a bit short-handed with Andrew out sick and with others battling some illness, but found a way to play well enough to win," said RCSJ Gloucester Head Coach Dr. Guy Davidson. "Nick (Iuliucci) is rounding into form at the right time. Connor (Eberly) has been very reliable for us. Julian (Boyer) fought through it today and Colin (Pape) turned in a serviceable round. We had a chance to give Ethan Young (93) a start in the lineup, and he hit some good shots. I feel like our team's best golf remains ahead of us. That's a good thing with some very important dates coming up, including the GSAC tournament on April 30 at Flanders Valley. We'll need to play even better than we did today to have a shot to beat Coach Chegwidden's team (CC Morris) on their home course and we know how low Coach Fawcett's team (Ocean) can go, so we'll be working on getting our games in shape in time for the 30th."
The Runner men fended off charges from rivals CC Morris (330) and the much-improved Ocean County College (337) squad. Rounding out the team scoring were Raritan Valley (357), RCSJ Cumberland (365), and Union (369).
RCSJ Cumberland's Mateo Medina captured men's medalist honors with a 76, while CC Morris' Sydni Sundstrom (92) was once again the low-scoring woman in the field.
The Roadrunner women's team posted another complete 18-hole team score (497), with Miya Villari (119), Sammi Sutter (123), Lanie Guzman (127), and Nevaeh Miller (128) contributing to the team total. Ashley Ward (137) wasn't far behind.
Coach Davidson discussed the women's progress. "I took some time at practice Tuesday to show our women some of the scores we've posted in the past at Nationals and how they're doing in relation to those scores. I think they were encouraged to see that their scores aren't bad when compared to some of those, especially other first-year players. It was also nice to remind Lanie Guzman of exactly how far she's come!
The Roadrunners will be in action next on April 30 at Flanders Valley Golf Course for the Garden State Athletic Conference Championship, a title they have captured in each of the past two seasons.