Grand Sam: Ognisty takes ECC golf title, leads Stonington to runner-up finish
Sprague — Sam Ognisty experienced crazy good and crazy bad luck during his adventurous day on the golf course.
The overall team result also was enough to drive the Stonington High School golf team crazy.
Stonington's Ognisty captured his first Eastern Connecticut Conference individual title, winning by three strokes and finishing with an impressive 3-over par 75 on a windy day at Mohegan Sun Country Club at Pautipaug.
The Bears came close to upsetting undefeated Killingly, too, losing by just one shot and settling for second place with 327 strokes. The Redmen (326) claimed their third straight ECC Championship.
"It's disappointing for the kids," Stonington coach Art Howe said, "because they played hard and they played well. It was a tough, windy day out there."
The Bears couldn't help think about what could have been.
Ognisty and Bacon Academy's Tyler Scheiblich both were penalized two strokes on the eighth hole for teeing off from the wrong spot. Killingly's Drew Aitken noticed the error.
Ognisty wound up with a triple-bogey.
"I teed up three feet to the right of where I thought the tee box was, so I got a two-stroke penalty," Ognisty said. "Then I doubled the next hole because I was a little bit shaken.
"I had other crazy lucky aspects. I went into the woods once time and it kicked out. On hole 12, I hit it to within three feet and made an eagle. So it went both ways. In the end, it evened out. I feel like I played the best that I could."
The mistake didn't spoil his career-best round at Pautipaug. He had his first eagle ever in any round, driving to within a few feet of the pin on the 12th hole and then tapping it in.
"It was a blind tee shot and I had no idea where it went," Ognisty said. "At first, I didn't think it was mine."
Ognisty's clutch play and steady putter helped him hold off the Killingly duo of Drew and John Aitken, who finished second (78) and third (79), respectively. Scheiblich and Woodstock's Dan Harrington tied for fourth at 80.
"I would have been happy with anything under 80," said Ognisty, who finished seventh last year. "Seventy-five is a dream."
The race for medalist honors remained tight until the end. Several different golfers occupied the top spot during the round until Ognisty took command. He shot a 34 on the back nine, scoring a birdie on 17 to seal the win.
Ledyard senior Ben Gill was one of the challengers early on. He stuck around the top five before fading. He tied for ninth overall with an 83.
That's an impressive finish considering Gill joined the golf team for the first time this season.
"It's not even close to what I would ever imagine," Gill said.
Stonington placed two other golfers in the top 10. Will Caveliere tied East Lyme's Ryan Tobin for sixth at 81 while Jack Ognisty tied Gill and Killingly's Connor Fillmore for ninth at 83.
Brendan Sullivan took eighth with an 82, leading Norwich Free Academy to a third-place finish. East Lyme placed fourth.
Killingly will likely be the team to beat next year. The Aitken brothers return for one more year.
"This was stressful," Killingly coach Kevin Marcoux said. "It's crazy it comes down to one shot."
g.keefe@theday.com
Twitter: @GavinKeefe
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