By Matt Phelps
The Mercer Island High School boys golf team sent six players to districts Oct. 24 (after Reporter deadline) after playing well at the 3A KingCo meet.
The Islanders (375) finished just three strokes behind Bellevue (372) during medalist to take second place as a team.
“We scored great,” said Mercer Island boys golf head coach Gary Adrian. “They just scored better.”
Of the 19 alottments for the district tournament from 3A KingCo, Bellevue and Mercer Island will take 12.
Issaquah (385), Interlake (404) and Newport (410) round out the top five.
Senior Shawn Tonkin tied for third place with a two-over 74 for Mercer Island. His score was just three strokes from first place as Ryan Dolbow of Bellevue took the title.
“Shawn was really solid,” said Adrian.
The surprise of the Medalist tournament for Mercer Island was junior Jason Tolkin also tying for third place with Tonkin at two-over 74. Five players tied for third place during the event.
Islander Paul Mitzel continues to have one of the best years of any golfer on the team as he finished in a tie for eighth place. Mitzel’s three-over par 75 placed him in the top ten as a sophomore.
“The younger kids have just played well all year,” said Adrian. “But Paul has just done extremely well.”
Defending 3A KingCo Medalists champion Islander Ian Code could not duplicate his tremendous run from last season but still managed to tie for tenth with a 76. Codes tied with three other players including teammate David Kelley.
Peter Mullaly moved on to districts with a 77, good enough to tie for 14th place overall.
The Islanders finished second in the league with a 5-1-1 record. The only loss came to Bellevue and the only tie was to Interlake on Oct. 10.
“They were sold on the idea of team and we scored really well all year,” said Adrian. “Except for the Interlake disaster.There were five penalty strokes called. But we still had the best scoring average for KingCo.”
The Islanders had to settle for second in league and missed their goal of a KingCo banner for the gymnasium.
The team will now go after a district and state crown.
“We need to play a little above ourselves but we can do that,” said Adrian.
