Sussex Academy takes fourth and Cape Henlopen finishes fifth in rain-shortened state golf championship
May 30, 2025
Drenching steady rains forced a cancellation of the May 28 second round of the scheduled 36-hole, two-day DIAA State Golf Championship at St. Anne’s Golf Links in Middletown.
DIAA rules contemplate the possibility. Fortunately, this is only the third time since 1974 that weather reduced the event to 18 holes. The other two occasions were 1990 and 1981.
Grant Morse of the Golf Association of Philadelphia recommended the cancellation, agreed to by the DIAA Golf Committee and golf club staff. “We received a lot of precipitation overnight, about ¾ of an inch since yesterday. We arrived here this morning, checked the course, and found standing water in the fairways, on the tee boxes, and in the bunkers. Unfortunately, we felt the course wasn’t playable for golf today. We wanted to identify the best players in the field, and didn’t want the luckiest player to win because of the course conditions,” Morse said.
A waterlogged sixth fairway at St. Anne’s along with other soggy conditions forced the conversion of the state high school golf championship into an 18-hole tournament.
St. Anne’s hosted this year’s championship for its first time. Tournament locations usually rotate among the three counties each year. Morse oversaw the set-up for the championship with representatives from the club, DIAA, and the Delaware Interscholastic Golf Coaches’ Association.
“We looked at yardages between the boys and the girls [tees], trying to make it equitable for both genders. There are a lot of forced carries here, so we were mindful of that. We wanted to make it challenging but also wanted to make it fair for everyone in the field.” Morse said.
Tournament guidelines also call for a distance differential between the boys’ and girls’ yardages. Converting the par 5 fifth hole to a par 4 eliminated a forced carry and helped meet the goal. “We were able to meet the 85 percent guideline overall,” he said.
Jake Hollerbeck of Sussex Central won the boys’ individual championship with a fine 2-under par 68, two strokes ahead of Tatnall School’s Jack Homer. Austin Dostal of Sussex Academy finished T-4, with Delmarva Christian Academy’s Avery Brown T-6 with Ryan Dostal of SAS, Davin Lysik of Charter School of Wilmington, and Joshua Mohn of St. Mark’s.
Hannah Webb of Archmere Academy won the girls’ individual championship with a one-over par 71. Sawyer Brockstedt of Rehoboth Beach, a senior at Tower Hill, finished in second one stroke back. Brockstedt ended her high school golf career with three seconds in the girls’ championships, as a Sussex Academy student and at Tower Hill.
Ellie Walls of Indian River finished in a tie for fifth place in her first year of state tournament competition, with a 9-over 79.
Led by Webb, Archmere Academy also won the team championship, twelve strokes ahead of second place Salesianum. Tatnall School came third, with Sussex Academy in fourth and Cape Henlopen in fifth.
This was the Vikings’ best team finish since 2005. The team also came in fifth in 2004 and 2001, with a fourth-place result in 2000.
The other teams that made the cut included Polytech (6th), Delmar and Caesar Rodney (T-7), Delaware Military Academy (9th) and Appoquinimink (10th).
Four players’ scores counted toward the team totals from the May 27 round. For Sussex Academy, this included the Dostal brothers along with Sam Metz and Quinton Bowman, who both shot 81. Kingston Davis led the Cape squad with his 79. Ryan McNett came next with an 80, followed by Jack Tunnell’s 81 and Tyler Healy’s 85.
Cape wins Henlopen Conference Championship
Henlopen Conference Champions (l-r): Kingston Davis, Jacob Gabbard, Jack Tunnell, Travers Johnson, Tyler Healy, and Ryan McNett
The Vikings won the Henlopen Conference North/South match May 22 against Sussex Academy 156-162 at Baywood Greens, winning the Henlopen Conference Championship for 2025. It was Cape’s third lowest score of the season.
Senior Tyler Healy and junior Ryan McNett tied for medalist honors with a pair of two-over par 38s. Jacob Gabbard came third for Cape with his 39. Kingston Davis completed the team scoring with his 41.
McKenna Danahy and Austin Dostal led SAS with a pair of 40s. Quentin Bowman and Jordan Green’s pair of 41 completed the Seahawks’ scores.
There were signs of nerves despite the low scores, with unexpected three-putts, an OB drive and recoveries from the trees.
Several golfers for both teams are good friends and the Seahawks were gracious in defeat. Seahawk head coach Doug Grove said, “I have a nice group of kids. Very fortunate.”
Healy was ecstatic. After the award presentation, he told his teammates, “I never thought we would win this!”
Cape’s only other HAC Golf Championship in this century was in 2004. Viking head coach Bill Geppert noted that the golf team’s banner displayed in the Cape High gym will soon add the 2025 title to that one prior victory, and that he was proud of his team’s accomplishments.
Several other Cape golfers also contributed their match scores toward the team’s 16-2 record for 2025: Tunnell, Dalen Daminger, Eddie Ghabour, Gabby Hamstead, Chad Hughey, Travers Johnson, Joseph Skelly, and Brendan Staggs.
Local club competition results
The Mulligan’s Pointe Ladies played a Scramble game May 27, won by Karen Feuchtenberger, Kathy Hudak, Rita McConnell, and Debby Quinn.
Marge Adomi, Pat Burke, Donna Dolce, and Kathy Marks finished second. Jackie Adams, Joann Foster, Kay Monack, and M. L. York took third.