THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER
Higb school boys goH preview
Field takes aim at St. Xavier By Tom Groeschen The Cincinnati Enquirer
Traditional powers St. Xavier and Fairfield top the Enquirer boys Division I golf preseason coaches poll, with the season teeing off Monday. Moeller, which had the top Cincinnati finish (fifth) at last year's Division I state meet, begins No. 3 in this season's poll. Oak Hills, which finished No. 10 in the state last year, comes in at No. 7. A look at this year's top teams, as voted by area coaches: ¡ L St. Xavier (57 poll points): Sophomore Alex Martin made Enquirer first-team all-city last year as a freshman (38.5 strokes per nine holes) and was the Cincinnati Junior Met champion this summer. Returning seniors Brad Blinn and Brian Keating have been among the area's top players for the past few years. Mike Beausejour, a junior, placed third in the Junior Met this summer. Coach Brian Shircliff also has several challengers for the No. 5 spot. "It's a dedicated group that's worked hard over the summer," Shircliff said. 2. Fairfield (47): Senior Tyler Hassler was all-city last year (36.6 average). He leads another deep .~earn that includes Jeff Sullivan,
St. Xavier's Alex Martin won the Junior Met this summer.
Hamilton's Kyle Hodges averaged 37 strokes per round in '02.
Kyle Dickey, Ben LaFary and Chad Montgomery. There were big losses to graduation in Tony Bosken and Luke Mitchell, but coach Steve Kessler believes his team will challenge St. X for area supremacy. 3. Moeller (45): Senior Peter Heile, a three-year starter and allcity player, returns after averaging 38.9 as sectional medalist. Fellow seniors Ben Schonhoft (39.0) and Josh Winterberger (39.8) also played well last year. Junior Mike Kroeger (40) and senior Chris Conwell (40) also could be big factors, with junior Rob Chappell set to move up for coach Rick Bohne. 4. Hamilton (38): The Big Blue feature one of the area's elite players in afi.city junior Kyle Hodges (37.0). Coach Mark Smith also re-
lies on senior Joey Lorance (40.5), senior Brett Wilson (41.4) and junior Jeremy Simkow (41.0). Everyone is back except the graduated DougMoorehead,lastyear'sNo. 2 player. 5. Lakota West (30): Seniors Mark Senne and Alex Hampton are the only players back for coach Chris Conway. Senne was allGreater Miami Conference the past two years and averaged 39.4 last season. 6. Oak Hills (22): Junior Alex I.ambrinides (39.0) returns to lead a program that finished lOth at last year's state tournament. Senior ]arod Wong also provides some experience, with junior Nick Weimer also expected to be a top player. 7. Turpin (20): Senior Luke Underhill (38.6 average last year) is one of Cincinnati's top players, having been a regular since his freshman year. Senior Kyle Pinger averaged 41last year and has averaged 38 in preseason rounds. Senior Jake Sexton also should be a factor. 8. Elder (15): Junior Brian Iinneman, all-city honorable mention last year, should be one of the area's best again. Coach Mike Trimpe has a rather young team with just two seniors, Mike Ciresi and Brian Solomon. 9. Anderson (11): Dustin Arnold
is the top returnee, a first-team allFAVC Buckeye choice who averaged 38.5. Junior Aaron Barnett looks promising after also averaging 38.5, and junior Scotty Anderson is a transfer from St. Xavier who will help immediately. Coach Nathan Delany also looks for Dustin Manning to score well. 10. Sycamore (8): Seniors Sean Raffel and Scott Langhorne averaged around 40 last year and should be in the 30s this season. Junior Jake Webb and sophomores Paul Procario and Robbie Faulkner return for coach Jerry Capehart.
Divisions 11-111 Eric McKimm, a Wyoming junior, was all-city last year and helped the Cowboys finish sixth in the Division II state tournament. Elliot Moore, Adam Mayerson and David Bouchard also were part of Wyoming's state team as underclassmen last season. Madeira's Andrew Donaldson and Finneytown's Joey Buescher are among top players returning in Division II. The top returning Division III team is Summit Country Day, which finished ninth at state last year. Senior Alex Tieman, who shot 157 in last year's two-day state tournament, returns.