THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 15, 1996 TAG: 9608140116
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 90 lines
It was 10:08 Monday morning when, on the first tee at the Hamptons, Nansemond River's Shaun Robertson drew back his driver and officially launched the Suffolk public schools' foray into Group AAA competition.
Local sports fans could hardly have asked for a better omen.
``He smoked it,'' Nansemond River coach Don Horne said. ``A beautiful drive, about 265-275 yards, right down the middle of the fairway. He just busted that ball.''
It was the first of several things that went right for Nansemond River and Lakeland Monday, when an eight-team golf match featuring all Southeastern District teams marked the Suffolk schools' debut as a full-time competitor against Hampton Roads' largest schools after six years in the smaller, Group AA division.
Nansemond River shot 337 to place first and hand 11-time Southeastern District champion Great Bridge only its second regular-season loss in 11 years.
``I'm tickled to death,'' coach Horne said.
The Cavaliers came in fifth, respectable, said coach Dan Murphy, considering Lakeland graduated its top three players from a year ago.
``We hung in there as best we could,'' he said.
That the two schools are a competitive match for the Southeastern teams in golf shouldn't really surprise. Nansemond River won the Bay Rivers District regular season title a year ago, with Lakeland finishing third. Monday, however, both teams also learned that their philosophical integration into the Southeastern appears likely to go even smoother than anticipated, in large part because in golf, the Suffolk schools won't be the only ones making adjustments. The 1996 season shapes up as a transition in the Southeastern, a season in which virtually all the teams are undergoing significant change.
At Great Bridge, Chris Osmon is taking over from Bill Welch, the wildly successful coach whose teams compiled a 136-14 record in 18 seasons and won two of the past five state titles. Welch stepped down in a dispute over scheduling that cut two weeks out of his summer vacation.
``They added weeks to the schedule but didn't want to pay us more money,'' he said.
Like last season, when Great Bridge barely managed to continue its league championship streak and no Chesapeake player qualified for the state tournament, the league appears to lack a dominant team or performer. The Southeastern's marquee player may even be a girl, Great Bridge's Holly Corbin, who combines talent - she won the state girls junior amateur last week - with an abundance of confidence - the license plates on her 300ZX read LPGA 2 B.
``I think the whole district is in a rebuilding stage,'' Western Branch coach Wayne Peterson said.
The Suffolk schools may even have the advantage in dealing with the league's new format. Southeastern matches will now feature all teams playing each other at the same course, with the aggregate score of the top four finishers for each team carrying over to the next match. The champion will be the team with the lowest cumulative score after eight matches. Lakeland and Nansemond River have used this format for the past two years in the Bay Rivers District. Southeastern teams formerly played dual- and tri-matches, with champions determined by won-loss records.
``This should keep things interesting through the whole season,'' said Nansemond River assistant principal Tom McLemore, the man in charge of Southeastern golf this season and the person who proposed the format change to the district principals.
Southeastern coachs appear to be adopting a wait-and-see attitude on the change. More controversial is the decision to shorten matches to nine holes once school begins, a move made to avoid having the golfers miss too much class time. Monday's 18-hole match took nearly six hours to complete.
``How would you like to play half a football game? How about half a basketball game,'' said Indian River coach Gary Everton. ``I don't agree with the nine holes.''
The uncertain reactions of the Southeastern coaches pointed out one of Monday's great ironies. For while some in the area have expressed angst and concern over how the local schools would fare in Group AAA, in one sport at least, Nansemond River and Lakeland looked like the most comfortable teams on the course.
MORE GOLF: Former Nansemond-Suffolk Academy star Jay Fisher fired rounds of 70 and 69 for a five-stroke victory and medalist honors in the recent U.S. Amateur Golf Championship qualifying tournament at Country Club of Virginia's Tuckahoe Creek course.
The two-day score of 139 by Fisher, a rising sophomore at Furman University, earned him one of five berths in the national amateur event, to be held Aug. 19-25 in Portland, Ore.
Sean Dougherty, a rising senior at N-SA, has been selected to play in the upcoming Virginia-Carolina team matches at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst.
Dougherty placed fifth in the recent state junior amateur and shot four rounds of 74 in the Eastern Amateur. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
THE GOLF REPORT
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm] by CNB