Sports Roundup: Golf Wins First Match Of Season After 21 Stroke Improvement, Cross Country Earns First Win

This Whaler sports roundup includes a recap on the Nantucket golf team’s first victory of the season on Monday, where the Whalers showed incredible improvement from their first match finishing 21 strokes better than in their season opener last week. This roundup also includes a feel-good story coming out of the boys cross-country team’s first meet of the season, another victory for the field hockey team, and updates on the girls soccer team and girls volleyball team.

Golf Beats Dennis-Yarmouth 260-271

Nantucket varsity golf head coach Sam Herrick knew he and his coaching staff were in for a year filled with tutoring and mentoring after every varsity golfer from last year’s team graduated in June.

In their first match, the Whalers struggled in a 255-281 loss to a strong St. John Paul II program on September 5 but rebounded in their Monday matchup with Dennis-Yarmouth with a 260-271 win – a 21-stroke improvement from match one to match two.

"I told them right before we went into (our matchup with DY) I was like, "All right guys. We've seen some of the scores that DY has been putting up. They're right around what we shot last week. We know we're going to be competitive with these guys, but we need to do better than the 281,’” Herrick said. “’That was our score last week, so we need to do better than a 281.’ So they're like alright, and then they came in and they shoot 260. Just really good stuff."

The scores were as followed:

1 David Foley - 39(+3)
2 Ben Freeman - 40(+4)
3 Hunter Bistany - 44(+8)
4 TQ Scarlett - 45(+9)
5 David Boulter - 45(+9)
6 Edward Tavaras - 47(+11)
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7 Emil Ivanov - 49(+13)
8 Alex Horton - 49(+13)

Herrick praised the efforts of all of his golfers but had special praise for his top two finishers.

"Our whole thing right now is just setting goals," Herrick said. "We're going to be better than we were last match, or we're going to be better than we were last practice. That kind of stuff. I think they all really appreciated that. Seeing a 39, three over par, out of David Foley and then Ben Freeman coming back after I think he shot 47 in the first match and threw up a 40 (on Monday). Huge improvement, huge improvement. Benny is really into it right now, and he's really wanting to get better. It's fun to watch him go out there and focus on it."

"Hunter Bistany played really great too,” Herrick added. “He bounced back from a tough score at Hyannis Port (in the first match) and threw up a 44 (on Monday). It was solid all around. All of our eight guys broke 50. That was another goal.”

Herrick said given the youth on his team, he feels first match jitters could have played a role in his group’s performance last week against SJP. He said they have been sharp in practice and shown a strong desire to improve. The JV team also picked up a win against DY on Monday, and Herrick said the middle school golfers on that team have also shown lots of promise as the future of the program.

"I mean look, in that first match you have a bunch of kids that have zero varsity experience, and they're also coming off the summertime where they're not playing as much as they want to because they're working or because they got other stuff going on," Herrick said. "But obviously once the season starts and you make that commitment, it's like you're playing every day, you start working on small tweaks, some things start working for you. I can remember last season I think our worst match was our first or second match and I'm looking at these guys going like, 'Wait, I thought we were supposed to be good?' And we ended up being really good. I think it's just a combination of things and I can tell just by looking at these guys (on Monday) they're a lot more comfortable with what they're doing, we're kind of into the swing of things now, and I can just tell that they're ready to improve and get better.”

The Whalers have an exciting opportunity on Wednesday, September 11 to play at the Nantucket Golf Club when they host Sturgis West at 3:30 p.m.

Boys Cross Country Win, Support New Teammate In Opening Meet

The Nantucket boys cross country team earned a victory over Dennis-Yarmouth Tuesday afternoon 27-28 but more importantly, they helped their new teammate feel right at home in his first ever high school sports action.

Iain MacIver, a senior runner for the Whalers (Bib 3297), signed up this fall for the team. It is the first ever sport he has played in high school. After all of the Whaler runners finished their runs, they circled back to run with MacIver as he finished off his first varsity race. They were led by captains Rory Murray (Bib 3296) and Dorian Manov (Bib 3298). Murray said after the meet MacIver has shown lots of improvement and become a valuable member of the team.

“He’s fit right in,” Murray said. “He works super hard each practice. It’s way out of his comfort zone and we all share jokes about how he loves to tell people that. But we know just as well as he does that he is getting so much better.”

With the help of his teammates MacIver not only finished the race but completed it strong by making his final lap his fastest lap on the day.

The top finishers for Nantucket included Murray, who finished with a 19:08. That was good for second overall amongst all runners and first including DY. First overall was a Sturgis West runner. Sturgis West only had four runners - which is not enough to compete in a meet.

Manov placed second for Nantucket with a time of 19:58. Mike Sullivan (21:59), Jimmy Fuller (23:09), and Numa Solano (24:08) rounded out Nantucket’s top five finishers.

Reminder: There is no girls cross country team this season.

Nantucket’s next meet is scheduled for Tuesday, September 17 at home against the Monomoy Sharks at 4 p.m.

Field Hockey Shuts Out Falmouth In Road Victory

The Whaler field hockey team followed up their strong performance on Saturday against Whitman-Hanson (3-0 victory) with another solid effort on Monday – beating the Falmouth Clippers on the road 1-0.

Marin Mooney was the Whaler goal scorer with the assist coming from Suz Peraner. It was a strong defensive performance for the Whalers who have now strung together back-to-back shutouts after losing to Monomoy 7-0 last week.

The Whalers will try to improve their record to 4-1 and continue their strong start to the season when they travel to Marshfield to take on the Rams on Saturday, September 14 at 12:45 p.m.

Girls Soccer Ties Sturgis East

The Whaler girls soccer team tied the Sturgis East Storm on Tuesday 3-3 and now have a record of 1-0-1 this season. The goals for Nantucket came from Sutton LeBrecht, Adney Brannigan, and Myah Johnson. Chelsea Gross finished the game with two assists while Harper LeBrecht finished with one assist.

Nantucket has been sharp offensively through their first two games and now have 11 goals to their name already. They will look to keep their offense going when they travel to Carver on Friday, September 13 at 3:30 p.m.

Volleyball Loses To Sturgis West

The Whaler volleyball team lost to the Sturgis West Navigators 3-0 on Monday and are now 1-1 this season. Nantucket lost the set one 15-25, set two 19-25, and set three 15-25. Nantucket will try to bounce back and improve their record to 2-1 when they host Bridgewater-Raynham on Wednesday, September 11 at 4 p.m.

SCHEDULE AHEAD:

Wednesday, September 11:

The golf team will be at home facing the Sturgis West Navigators at 3:30 p.m. at the Nantucket Golf Club.

The volleyball team will be at home facing Bridgewater-Raynham at 4 p.m.

The boys soccer team will be at home facing Sturgis East at 4 p.m.

Thursday, September 12:

The golf team will be right back at it, but this time on the road facing Rising Tide at 3:30 p.m.

For more updates on Whaler sports throughout the year, you can follow Nantucket Current Sports on Instagram here or follow Sports Editor David Creed on X here.