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Underdog status pushes Wharton to berth at state

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 30, 2001

LAKELAND -- Wharton traveled to Lakeland's Lone Palm Golf Club on Monday afternoon and provedwho was the boss in Class 2A, Region 5 -- and the Wildcats did it in the wake of a little controversy.

Wharton captured the top two individual spots (Mike Giammaresi shot 2-under 70 and Brian Wertz shot 71), and ran away with the team title at 3-over-par 291, nine shots ahead of second-place Lakeland. David Tiffenberg shot 74 and Barrett White 76 for the Wildcats. Now Wharton moves on to the state tournament in Fort Pierce.

"We read in the paper that Lakeland and Winter Haven were favored, and that got us a little fired up," Wharton coach John Benson said. "So today, they went out and made a statement. They showed what they're capable of doing."

And the Wildcats did it despite one of their best players, Patrick Gibson, having to go to court Monday morning to become eligible.

Gibson was disqualified from last Tuesday's district tournament for tossing a ball in the water after carding a bogey on a hole. Officials said that was an outlandish display and cause for disqualification for the next two tournaments, which were region and state.

Monday, Gibson, his father and their lawyer went to court, where a judge granted an injunction against the Florida High School Activities Association's ruling, allowing Gibson to play.

Gibson's eligibility for state might be appealed by the FHSAA, but his status will have no bearing on if Wharton has qualified as a team.

In the end Monday, Gibson's score, 82, didn't count for his team's score, but it did make for two Wharton victories in one day.

"We showed that we have a deep team," Benson said. "Patrick's head wasn't in the game after what he went through this morning. But Barrett White stepped in and performed great. Those are the kinds of things this team can do."

A-5: Marauders move on

WINTER HAVEN -- To say Clearwater Central Catholic was a long shot entering Monday, would have been an understatement.

The Marauders only qualified for the regional tournament by taking the fourth -- and last -- spot in the district tournament.

To make matters worse, the three teams that beat CCC at districts plus another four from District 9 would be at Lake Region Yacht and Country Club vying for the top two positions and the berths in the state tournament that come with them.

The Marauders didn't pay that any mind.

CCC shot 315, beating runner-up and district champion Berkeley Prep by three strokes to claim the regional title and earn the trip to next week's state tournament at Fairwinds Golf Course in Fort Pierce.

The Bucs also will make the trip along with Hardee's Hiland Sander, who tied for first with CCC's Patrick Scranton with 74. Scranton defeated Sander in a one-hole playoff to claim the top individual honor.

"We've been playing second and third fiddle for a while to the Jesuits and Berkeley Preps," first-year Marauders coach Bryan Lisak said. "We were kind of the underdog coming into this. When we shot 152 in our first match, I knew we were going to make some noise."

The key to Monday's victory was a strong showing by CCC No. 5 golfer Jonathan Riegel, an exchange student from Germany. Riegel shot 83 on the 6,469-yard course to tie for third on the team.

Berkeley Prep got 77s from Ty Callahan and Sam Rosati but could manage only 80 and 84 from its other two golfers. Jesuit finished sixth as all five Tigers shot 80 or higher.

-- MIKE READLING

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