Hole in One

Hahnville High golfers finish second in state golf match

Led by Andrew and Jason Noto, the Hahnville golf team soared to a second place finish in the state meet, finishing only two strokes behind champion Mandeville High. Hahnville shot a 297 the first day and a 305 the second day, which gave them an overall score of 602. Mandeville finished with a score of 600, while St. Thomas More took third place with a 616.

“Going into this season, both coaches felt that we had a good, competitive team that could be a strong contender for the state title,” Hahnville golf coach Ronnie Cantrelle said. “I felt all along that we could win state if they all played up to their potential.

“At state, the boys finally showed that they were capable of shooting low rounds of golf.”

Andrew, who is a senior, finished with the second-best score in the state, shooting a 70 in the first round and a 75 in the second. His brother Jason, who is a freshman, came in fourth. Jason shot a 72 in the first round and a 75 in the second. This was only the second time in school history that Hahnville had two golfers finish in the top five. Jeff Lorio and Jarrett Walker last accomplished that feat several years ago.

“Andrew and Jason’s performance came as no surprise,” Cantrelle said. “I had been watching these two for over eight years and I knew that they were capable of finishing as high as they did. In fact, I felt all season that Andrew could be the top golfer in the state this year and that Jason would be very close behind.”

While the Notos finished with the top two scores on their team, the other members of the squad also stepped up their games in time for state.

Werlien Prosperie shot a 76 in the first round and a 77 in the second round, while Caleb Lampert shot a 79 on day one and an 80 on day two. James Sierra also chipped in, finishing with a two-round total of 178.

“The other members performed well this year,” Cantrelle said. “We worked hard at building around our returning senior and two very promising freshman.”

Even though the team performed well, finishing so close to first was tough to take.

“We knew we had let one slip through our fingers,” Cantrelle said. “You never want to second guess what could have been. We went in as a team and we finished as a team.”

Cantrelle says the second-place finish will give the team something to shoot for next year.

“Finishing no worse than second was always our goal this year,” Cantrelle said. “We had seen what other teams were doing and we felt all along that we could be the sleeper team this year. Finishing runner-up gives us something to build on next year.”

That runner-up finish is just another in a long list of accomplishments for the Hahnville squad.

The team won the state championship in 2005 and finished as runner-up in 2004 and 2006. They also came in third in 2007.

“I know of no other school that can claim such success as we’ve had at Hahnville High and all the credit goes to the boys and girls who work hard to be the best they can be academically and athletically,” Cantrelle said. “2009 promises to be another good season.”

 

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