Led by favorite French foreign exchange student Elsa Toletti, the Cape Henlopen High School Vikings golf team took fourth-place honors in the 2012 Henlopen Conference golf championship, held May 14 at The Peninsula.

Toletti’s 82 was good for a tie for third place overall, only four strokes behind Joe Visalli of Caesar Rodney and seven strokes behind first-place finisher Dylan Chessher, also of Caesar Rodney.

“I really have to commend Elsa,” said Cape golf coach Claudio Smarrelli. “Without her leading the team throughout the season, we wouldn’t have done as well as we did.”

“Elsa had three birdies for the day, and an 8 on the [par-5] 18th hole,” Smarrelli said. “She was very good.”

Freshman Mike DeStasio finished second best for Cape with his 91, good for 17th place overall. Smarrelli said, “Mike was pretty happy.”

Fellow freshman Mason Jones shot a 98, placing him in a tie for 29th place among the 79 competitors from the 14 participating Henlopen Conference teams.

Senior Chase Nelson, who only came out for the Vikings squad this season, finished the team scoring with his 105, in a tie for 42nd place.

Two other Cape golfers also played, but their scores did not count toward the team total. Michael Johnson’s 109 tied several others for the 48th spot, while Robert Prettyman tied for 65th overall with his 118.

Caesar Rodney, the current No. 1-ranked team in the state, finished easily in first place, followed by Sussex Tech. Cape’s team score was only 11 strokes behind Indian River’s third-place finish.

The Vikings’ 8-6 record, which included some very high team scores in a few losses, failed to qualify the team for the upcoming state high school golf tournament, to be held May 29-30. Nonetheless, Toletti and DeStasio qualified for participation in the individual category for the tournament, along with 22 other players whose schools did not make the final cut for the 16-team event.

Smarrelli was pleased with his team’s performance in the conference tournament.

“It was a nice day. There were a lot of spectators to cheer the players. We were even given a ribbon. We have several kids returning for next year, and several freshman who could make the varsity.”

Local club competition results
The Kings Creek Country Club Ladies 18-hole golf group played a Cross County tournament May 17.

Trish Ritthaler took first place in the first flight, while Bernie Reid finished in second place. Nadine Carrick earned third-place honors.

In the second flight, Nadine Carrick finished in first, with Mary Mezger taking the second spot and Prabha Karapurkar coming in third.

Ritthaler also won the closest-to-the-pin contest on the par-3 fifth hole. Her approach shot came to a halt 11-feet-2-inches from the cup.

Buddy Hurlock
Fans of the Delaware high school sports scene lost one of its biggest cheerleaders May 13 with the passing of longtime Wilmington News Journal sportswriter Buddy Hurlock.

Hurlock, 40, died from a rare brain tumor after an 18-month struggle with the condition.

He had been the upstate daily’s primary high school sports coverage journalist since 1999.

Our professional paths didn’t cross very often, but he was unfailingly cordial in our few conversations.

Hurlock did not limit his sports coverage solely to the action on the fields. On occasion, in my work as a deputy attorney general, I also saw him at several meetings of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association. Since he knew I also wrote this golf column, those chance meetings would bring a smile to his face.

My condolences to his family and to his fellow sportswriters and friends at the News Journal.