As summer ends and the chilly weather of fall starts, fall sports start to come to a close. The Harwood Golf teams have had an extremely successful season, with the boys going undefeated in regular season matches and placing 2nd in the North Country Invitational.  

On October 1st they played at Neshobe Golf Club to qualify for the state tournament. The roster for qualifiers included freshmen Pyke Nelson, Braedon Belows, and Chase LaBabouche, who were competing for the first time, along with junior Steele Nelson. Leading the team is junior Jake Venafra, who played in states last year and will mentor the new wave of golfers. The boys put in a lot of hard work to place second, with Venafra getting an 81. With that, they have had an amazing start to the postseason.  

Harwood has only two girls playing on the golf team this year: senior Tessa Palmer and sophomore Emma Aither.  Unlike the boys, they don’t have to play in a qualifying match to secure a spot in the state tournament. 

“This year I saw a lot of improvements with me and Emma.  We both gave our all and are always doing our best.  We are both happy with how our season went” said Palmer.  They ended up placing 3rd in the state, Ather narrowly missing the New England Individual Championship.

Finally, the same team at the qualifiers went to Burlington Country Club for the state tournament  Weather conditions were a tough contributor to how they played with high winds and cloudy cold temperatures of 40 degrees.  “There were a lot of ups and downs,” said Venafra.  “Due to the weather, I didn’t play as well as I wanted to.”  

But with that in mind, they still put in their full effort to beat the main competition. Unfortunately, they only missed 2nd place by 1 stroke, ending 3rd in the state. 

“Next year we got them!” Venafra said, looking forward to the years coming for the golf team.  

Fortunately, the players who played this season will be able to play next year to get a second chance at Otter Valley and Hartford.