Coming off of its Division I state championship season last fall , the Anthony Wayne boys golf team aims for another successful run this year despite some crucial losses to graduation.
Entering his 17th year as head coach of the Generals, Pat Phillips is hoping some new talent will emerge from within the program to help fill the sizable void left by departure of team leader Logan Sutto and fellow graduated seniors Ian Briars and Myles Murphy. All three are now playing collegiately.
That leaves senior Ted Robertson and junior Michael Distefano, the only returning starters, to lead the Generals in a quest for a fourth straight trip to the 12-team Division I state tournament.
The 2021 Generals tied for eighth at the state tournament, and the 2022 squad placed sixth.
Phillips, who has overseen this emergence of Anthony Wayne as a state golf power, had also guided the Generals to a state appearance and 11th-place finish in 2009. Two prior AW teams reached state (2000 and 2002).
“I still like to think that we have two of the best players in the area in Ted Robertson and Michael Distefano,” Phillips said. “Are we going to be as consistent? No. But, we have potential.
“Our goal is that we want to get back to state. Winning the state is a whole other animal, but winning our district and getting to state is our primary goal this year.”
Phillips said that the top candidates to join the lineup with Robertson, who averaged 75 for 18 holes in 2023, and Distefano (74), will be seniors Cole Reese and Ryan Akey, and juniors Tyler Shaw and Ethan Anstine.
“That senior group, even before us winning state, everyone saw their work ethic and they kind of brought along the younger guys,” Phillips said of the impact of Sutto, Murphy, and Briars. “I'd go out and play golf on my own, and I'd see eight of our guys on their own playing.
“They have all caught the bug, and I think there's a lot of pride now in knowing that people know who they are. They don't want to let the program down this coming year. They want to continue to build on the success that those [prior] kids have built.”
The current team seeks to continue the tradition.
“Tons of kids are trying out for golf, and that's huge in growing the game and getting people involved,” Robertson said.
Added Distefano: “It was really cool to see a lot of the guys at school who had never really played golf trying out this year. I think last season was a big part of that.”
If there is one primary key for AW's rise, it is in seeking greater challenges.
“The last couple years, we just kept increasing the level of difficulty in our schedule,” Phillips said. “We basically just played all tournaments around the state. After we qualified for state [in 2021], other coaches around the state recognized how good our kids were and we kept getting invited to more prestigious events on tougher courses.
“That was a huge part of preparing them for [Ohio State University's] Scarlet, which is a tough course.”
Robertson agreed that the schedule was pivotal in the ultimate result.
“One hundred percent, that gave us more confidence,” he said, “just playing with the more competitive teams before the state tournament. Seeing that we could beat those teams, and that we had what it takes to win.”
It also didn't hurt that AW had one of Ohio's top all-time players.
Sutto, who has joined the lineup at Butler University in Indianapolis, propelled AW to the 2023 state crown with his individual runner-up finish in last year's tournament at OSU's Scarlet Course, where he fired rounds of 70 and 66 for a 136 total.
That score was one shot behind tourney medalist Vaughn Harber of Columbus DeSales. It highlighted the Generals' 36-hole team score of 308-290–598, which topped runner-up Akron Hoban (601) and third-place Powell Olentangy Liberty (610).
Both Harber and Sutto broke the previous individual state-tournament scoring record with their efforts.
Also contributing to AW's score in the first round were Briars (75), Distefano (81), and Murphy (82), and in the final round Distefano (72), Briars (76), and Robertson (76).
“It meant a lot just because we had been working towards it for so many years, and we got it done last year,” Robertson said of winning state. “Our skill got a lot better and also, we were mentally tougher as a team. We knew the position we were in, and what we needed to do to win.”
Briars, like Sutto a four-year varsity starter, will play at Ohio Northern University. Murphy will play at the University of Findlay.
Last year's championship team created one last special memory after winning the school's first state title in a boys sport, and that came July 1-3 in Frisco, Texas.
The Generals' five-player state lineup gathered one final time to compete in the 50-team, PGA High School National Invitational tournament, placing sixth overall in a 54-hole event at the Fields Ranch courses.
Led once again by Sutto, who tied for third individually at 68-71-68–207 (9 under par) in a field of 313 total players, AW posted a team score of 282-291-299–872. Murphy tied for 66th (221), Distefano tied for 76th (223), and Robertson and Briars also finished in the top 100, each tied for 97th (225).
After winning state, placing sixth nationally among a field of state-championship teams from around the country was an unexpected bonus.
“It was really special, especially with all the seniors, to have one last go-round with them,” Distefano said of the D-I title. “It was almost like a movie with all of us together at states. It was really special.
“That [PGA National] was really cool also because, after states, we all just kind of thought it was over. It was cool for our dream team to have one more go-round.”
When asked if the sixth-place finish at the PGA National Invitational was an even bigger accomplishment than winning the school's first state boys title, Phillips was decisive in his answer.
“Winning a Division I championship as a public school is a pretty big deal,” he said.
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