PGA Junior Series Returns to Taconic

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Top junior golfers from around the country will take on the par-71 layout at Taconic Golf Club this week.
 
For the second straight year, the PGA Junior Series will make a stop in Williamstown.
 
Three Mount Greylock students will be among the dozens vying for an exemption to August's 40th annual Junior PGA Championship in Bryan, Texas.
 
Kyle Alvarez and Matt Wiseman, who competed in the event last year, will be joined by Ben Gilooly, a rising freshman at Mount Greylock.
 
Sixty-four boys and 13 girls are registered for the event.
 
Last year's boys winner, Daniel Martinez of Austin, Texas, went on to finish in the top half of the field, 13 strokes off the pace, at the four-round Junior PGA.
 
Martinez carded a 7-over 220 over three rounds at Taconic last year to win the title by seven strokes.
 
In the girls division, New Jersey's Lois Kaye Go finished at 227 to edge Virginia's Alex Wright by one stroke.
 
Neither Martinez nor Go is back to defend his or her title this summer.
 
But Maya Walton of Austin, Texas, who led after Day One and was tied for the lead with Go heading to the final round, is registered to compete again this year.
 
And Delmar, N.Y.'s, Austin Fox, who won the boys 12-14 age group with a 235 a year ago, is back to play in the 15-18 age bracket.
 
Action is scheduled to get under way each day at 7:30 a.m.
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Williams Seeking Town Approval for New Indoor Practice Facility

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board last week gave Williams College the first approval it needs to build a 55,000-square foot indoor athletic facility on the north side of its campus.
 
Over the strenuous objection of a Southworth Street resident, the board found that the college's plan for a "multipurpose recreation center" or MRC off Stetson Road has adequate on-site parking to accommodate its use as an indoor practice facility to replace Towne Field House, which has been out of commission since last spring and was demolished this winter.
 
The college plans a pre-engineered metal that includes a 200-meter track ringing several tennis courts, storage for teams, restrooms, showers and a training room. The athletic surface also would be used as winter practice space for the school's softball and baseball teams, who, like tennis and indoor track, used to use the field house off Latham Street.
 
Since the planned structure is in the watershed of Eph's Pond, the college will be before the Conservation Commission with the project.
 
It also will be before the Zoning Board of Appeals, on Thursday, for a Development Plan Review and relief from the town bylaw limiting buildings to 35 feet in height. The new structure is designed to have a maximum height of 53 1/2 feet and an average roof height of 47 feet.
 
The additional height is needed for two reasons: to meet the NCAA requirement for clearance above center court on a competitive tennis surface (35 feet) and to include, on one side, a climbing wall, an element also lost when Towne Field House was razed.
 
The Planning Board had a few issues to resolve at its March 12 meeting. The most heavily discussed involved the parking determination for a use not listed in the town's zoning bylaws and a decision on whether access from town roads to the building site in the middle of Williams' campus was "functionally equivalent" to the access that would be required under the town's subdivision rules and regulations.
 
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