There were two reasons to celebrate for the Washington-Liberty Generals at the conclusion of the recent Liberty District golf tournament.
The Generals won the high-school competition for the first time, compiling a two-day, 36-hole team score of 304-294–598, winning by nine strokes over the nine-time defending champion Langley Saxons (307-300–607) on the Herndon Centennial Golf Course.
Leading W-L was junior standout player Finn Watson. He was the tournament’s individual champion, shooting a 3-under 71-68–139. Watson won by two shots over Langley’s Sophie Cao (1-under, 72-69–141). The team and individual victories were especially satisfying for Watson, because he finished second the past two seasons.
“My goal was to win as a team and individually,” Watson said. “It feels good to win both.”
Watson made nine birdies over the two rounds.
The golfer also finished second in the 6D North Region tournament that past two seasons. That competition is next for Watson and the Washington-Liberty team.
“To finally win one of those tournaments feels great,” Watson said.
Also leading W-L at the district tourney was third-place finisher Emmett Spence with a 74-73–147.
“Finn is so consistent, and Emmett and all of our golfers have worked so hard and have improved their games so much in a year,” W-L coach Michael Wilkis said. “Emmett shot in the 80s last year. Our players play together all the time, year round and practice on their own. It is huge for them to win this.”
Colin Hanley shot 78-77–155 for Washington-Liberty, Malia Perry 81-76–157, James Hall 81-81–162 and Bennett Schadrack 87-90–177.
“Malia came through with a great second round for us,” Wilkis said.
Wilkis and the Generals were confident they would contend for the district title after opening the fall season by winning the annual three-team Arlington County match against the Wakefield Warriors and Yorktown Patriots, also district rivals.
“We knew this [district] tournament was going to be very close and hard to win,” Wilkis said. “We thought team scores around 300 each day would be needed.”
Yorktown (312-311–623) tied the McLean Highlanders (313-310–623) for third in the team standings. Wakefield (311-316–627) was fifth. Yorktown lost to McLean in a one-hole playoff, which was necessary to determine the third team from the district advancing to the region tournament.
Individually for Yorktown, Ryan Pericak (79-76–155), Madison Cameron (78-79–157) and Luke Sanne (75-83–158) earned berths into the region, as did Wakefield’s Beckett Hampton (73-77–150) and Tully Andress (78-75–153).
Also for Yorktown, Jack Freeman shot 87-75–162, Austin Barbieri 80-83–163 and Nick Senkus 83-81–164.
For Wakefield, Philip Verghese shot 84-76–160, Andrew Middleton 78-89–167 and Miles Maravilla 82-88–170.
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