MHS golf wins Skyland

Cougars finally capture golf title

By: Bob Nuse
   If not for a few shots here and there, Charlie Olenick might be looking at one of the best golf teams he’s coached at Montgomery High.
   "We lost a match by one stroke, a match by two strokes and a match by three strokes," Olenick said. "And we had a match at Warren Hills where we just didn’t play well and they had one of the best days of the season. We lost to Princeton by a stroke at the Cherry Valley tournament, where only three scores count and if they counted four, we would have won. We lost by two strokes to Ridge at the (Somerset) county, then beat them by three at the conference."
   Montgomery has come close to having a special kind of season, but fallen just short in some spots. But on Thursday the Cougars did manage to get a title of their own, winning the Skyland Conference title by shooting a 324 and gaining some revenge over other teams that had captured titles Montgomery was after this season.
   The Cougars topped Bridgewater, which won the Skyland Conference Delaware Division, by three strokes; topped Hillsborough, which qualified for the Tournament of Champions in Group IV, by five strokes; and topped SCT champion Ridge by nine shots.
   Landon Boger and Jason Stall led the way for Montgomery, both shooting 76 at Fiddlers Elbow. Rich Goetz and Jack Jensen each shot an 86.
   "It was nice for these guys because we had one final shot at glory," Olenick said. "I think everybody there knew we were a solid team. But when you looked at the other teams that were there, like North Hunterdon, which was the Hunterdon-Warren champ, and Bridgewater and Hillsborough and Ridge, those were all teams that had won something this year.
   "It was a tough tournament against a really good field. I thought these kids had a real nice year, so it was nice to see them get a win like this."
   The Skyland Conference title was the third straight for Montgomery, which was sending Boger to the Tournament of Champions on Monday, and is scheduled to close out the season on Thursday with the Greater Princeton Challenge, which includes the Cougars, Princeton, Princeton Day and Hopewell Valley.
   "We were pretty close to having an unbeaten season," Olenick said. "It seemed like in each of the matches we lost, one guy just had a bad day. If we shot our average, we would have won. But that’s the way it is in golf. I’ve been doing this 27 years and I still don’t know how to predict it. There are always factors that enter into it. Golf can be a matter of inches, and not just on a missed putt.
   "Sometimes you’re just barely in the fairway or you just roll into a hazard. That’s just the way the sport is."
   And at the Skyland Conference Tournament, everything worked out just right for the Cougars, who added a title to what has been a season worthy of having one.
   "It was nice for these guys to win one," Olenick said. "We had been so close in some of the other tournaments. This was a nice one to get. And we’re looking forward to seeing what Landon can do at the Tournament of Champions, and then we have the Princeton Challenge, which is a nice event we’re looking forward to, to end the season."
   For Montgomery, it’s now a season that will end on a much better note, with a Skyland title in hand.