Rustay Leads Mount Greylock Golfers to State Tournament
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Mount Greylock ninth-grader Rodric Rustay picked the perfect time to play the best round of his life.
Rustay made three bogeys and played par the rest of the way on Monday to earn an individual Division 2 Western Massachusetts Championship and lead the Mounties to a second-place finish and a berth in the state championship.
Rustay and teammate Jacob Hillman finished first and second, respectively, in a 75-player field at Berkshire Hills Country Club as Mount Greylock finished two strokes behind team champion Tantasqua and 12 strokes clear of the team cut line for the three squads that advance to next Monday’s state tournament at Franklin Country Club.
Wahconah’s Logan Aitken and Kesler Anello tied for third and sixth place, respectively, to qualify as individuals to compete at the D2 State Championships.
Rustay said he did not know until his round was over that he had a shot at winning the gold medal.
“I felt like I was playing well, I just didn’t understand or realize how good it was going to actually be,” he said.
“I’ve never played this good in my life, so I’m pretty ecstatic.”
Starting on the 10th tee in a shotgun start, Rustay played 2-over through his first six holes.
He then made par on the next nine straight holes. One that stood out to him during that stretch was the 154-yard, par-3 third hole, the 12th of his round.
“The third hole, I had a good iron shot, and I lipped out for birdie,” Rustay said. “Even though I missed, I was still happy. It just brought the round together for the rest of the nine.”
His best save of the day came on No. 12, a 340-yard par-4.
“I went hybrid left, over [the green], and then I almost chipped in for birdie and tapped it in for a par,” Rustay said.
Pars were a rare commodity on a day when half the field finished at 17-over or higher.
“I think they cut the greens this morning,” Wahconah coach Pete Terpak said. “They were a little slick, a lot of movement. But I’m really proud of the way my guys played.”
Wahconah as a team finished tied for sixth, in the top half of the 12-team field.
Pittsfield, in its first year back as a varsity program after breaking up the co-op with Taconic, placed eighth, and Generals senior Jason Fields just missed a berth in the state championships, tying for ninth place, one stroke behind the three players tied for sixth.
Wahconah’s Anello qualified for the state championship for a second straight year as an individual. This time around, he will be joined by Aitken.
“I watched that leaderboard all day, and they were hanging around the cut line,” Terpak said. “They didn’t want their season to be over.”
Both Wahconah golfers overcame a little adversity to post their top-six finishes,
“[Anello] had a little hiccup with a four putt on No. 5, but he kept his composure, hung in there and shot 80,” Terpak said. “Logan played really, really well. Even when he stumbled, he had a really good attitude today. I saw it on [No. 9]. He made double when I was watching him. It didn’t bother him at all, and I knew he would have a decent day.”
Mount Greylock’s Rustay and Hillman had the best day of anyone, but the Mounties were caught in the team standings by Fiskdale’s Tantasqua, which had four golfers finish tied at 9-over 81, tying for ninth place in the field.
Tantasqua, Mount Greylock and third-place St. Bernard’s of Fitchburg punched their tickets for next week with their performance on Monday.
“I’m really happy,” Rustay said of the team’s place. “I love this group of guys, I’m excited.”
Photos from this event to come.
Top 10 (top six qualify for State Championship as individuals)
75
Rodric Rustay, Mount Greylock
78
Jacob Hillman, Mount Greylock
79
Tanner Kmetz, Easthampton; Brayden Fennessy, Hampshire; Logan Aitken, Wahconah
80
Kesler Anello, Wahconah; Andrew Wright, Belchertown; Andrew Silver, St. Bernard’s
81
Jason Fields, Pittsfield; Andrew Weeden, Tantasqua; Tyler Phillips, Tantasqua; Davin Hjelm, Leominster; Connor Howe, Tantasqua; Wyatt Fay, Tantasqua.
Team Scores
1. Tantasqua, 324
2. Mount Greylock (Rodric Rustay 75; Jacob Hillman, 78; Kai Nafziger 83; Tanner Haig-Taylor, 90; Odin Wojtkowski, 91; Max Wied, 93), 326
3. St. Bernard’s, 333
4. Leominster, 338
5. Hampshire, 339
T-6. Wahconah (Logan Aitken, 79; Kesler Anello, 80; Braylen Washburn, 86; Joe Hoffmann, 99; Caleb Colombari, 103; Joey Houle, 103), Belchertown, 344
8. Pittsfield (Jason Fields, 81; Sam Gyurjan, 86; Jake Knauth, 86; Jack Bellefontaine, 94; Matthew Keegan, 98; John Mullen, 108), 347.
9. Smith Vocational, 357
10. Easthampton, 360
11. Gardner, 362
12. Leicester, 386