Bearcats win NWC golf tournament

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DELPHOS — Spencerville won the Northwest Conference golf tournament in an 18-hole tournament played at the Delphos Country Club in Delphos on Wednesday. The first-place tournament finish also clinched the overall 2017 conference golf championship for the Bearcats.

The Bearcats had a team total 341 to defeat tournament runner-up Lincolnview (353) by 8 strokes. Other tournament team totals were: Paulding (362), Bluffton (373), Allen East (375), Columbus Grove (383), Crestview (384), Delphos Jefferson (416), Ada (469).

Bluffton senior, Aaron Belcher, was the tournament medalist with a score of 73. Second and third place medalist honors were earned by Spencerville sophomores Ethan Harmon (82) and Gavin Harmon (83) respectively.

Following Wednesday’s play, the tournament finish for each school was combined with their regular season finish to determine the final golf standings for the NWC for 2017. Spencerville won both the regular season and tournament, and took first place with a perfect 18 points. Paulding took second place in the conference with 14.5 points. Lincolnview had the third-place finish with a total of 14 points. The other schools’ order of conference finish was Bluffton (13.5), Allen East (8.5), Crestview (8), Columbus Grove (6), Delphos Jefferson (5.5), Ada (2).

Following Wednesday’s action, the NWC also presented its All-Conference Awards for 2017.

The coaches voted Mike Harmon of Spencerville as Coach of the Year. Senior Aaron Belcher of Bluffton earned Golfer of the Year honors by virtue of points earned during each regular season match. Belcher was joined on the NWC First Team by brothers Ethan and Gavin Harmon (Spencerville), Grant Whitley (Allen East), Jacob Oglesbee (Columbus Grove), Logan Gallmeier, (Delphos Jefferson) and Cade McGarvey (Paulding).

NWC 2nd Team: Ryan Moody (Lincolnview), Reese Farmer (Lincolnview), Cole Heller (Paulding), Drake Mertz (Spencerville), Nick Phillips (Allen East), and Zach Roberts (Columbus Grove).

NWC Honorable Mention: Caden Hurless (Crestivew), Fletcher Cook (Paulding), Braxton Scalf (Delphos Jefferson), Colton Lautzenheiser (Crestview), Cole Fruchey (Bluffton), Brayden Evans (Lincolnview), Braeden Edwards (Blfuffton), Owen Macke (Columbus Grove), Kolson Egnor (Paulding), Jaden Youtsey (Lincolnview), Brett Schumm (Crestview), and Alex Gallman (Spencerville).