Although it’s still not clear if the Cape Henlopen High School golf team will qualify for the state championships, the Vikings finished their regular match schedule with a flourish.

On May 8, the team hosted the Panthers of Kent County’s Polytech High School at Kings Creek Country Club, and won 167-187.

Viking head coach Claudio Smarrelli said his kids played well in their last home match of the year. Team captain Dino Nardo capped off his day with a 37, good for medalist honors once again.

Dan Scrutchfield fired a 40 for one of his best competitive rounds of the year, and good for second-best among the Viking squad. Casey Anderson’s 43 was next best, and Zack Murr finished the team scoring with his 47.

Nick Purnell shot a 48 for the fifth and final place for his team, which is pretty unusual. At most high school golf matches, each team fields six players, and the best four scores count. Tristan Karsnitz was ready to play sixth man for Cape.

However, his competitor was taken off the match list after a discussion with his coach, according to Smarrelli, which meant that Karsnitz had no one to play against.

On Tuesday, May 13, the Vikings traveled to the new Heritage Shores golf course, near Bridgeville, to play Woodbridge High School. The western Sussex County school’s team is in its infancy, however, so Smarrelli fielded his lower six varsity players for the match.

“The course was in great shape,” Smarrelli said. “The greens were firm, and if they were tested on a Stimpmeter, they would probably have run at a 10 or 11. The kids really enjoyed the course and the opportunity to play a new one. They had nothing but good things to say about it.”

The fact that the Viking squad played pretty well may have had something to do with how they felt about Heritage Shores, of course, as they beat Woodbridge 181-246.

Sean Toner and Devin Medd took co-medalist honors, with a pair of 44s on the par 36 nine-hole side. Zack Murr had a bogey-golf 45 for third-best among the Vikings, while Nick Purnell finished the team scoring with his 48. Matthew Kersey shot a 53, and Andrew Rickers scored a 57 for fifth- and sixth-best among the squad.

The Vikings’ 9-3 conference record and 12-4 overall record is probably good enough to make the 16-team field for the state championships to be held May 27-28, at Wild Quail Golf & Country Club near Wyoming.

Smarrelli said the decision rested in part on the win/loss records of the competition, and that he expected to learn very shortly if his team would be invited.

In the meantime, the Vikings will play in the rescheduled Sussex Family YMCA tournament on Monday, May 19.

They will also participate in the Henlopen Conference tournament, held this year on May 22 at Maple Dale Country Club in Dover.

In assessing his team’s performance this year, Smarrelli noted that six of the Vikings took medalist honors at least once, which is a sign of a good spread of talent.

With only one senior, and several freshmen playing on the varsity squad, its safe to say this was definitely a rebuilding year for the normally highly competitive team.

Doing well against better competition usually requires at least two players to regularly score in the 30s, however, which didn’t happen often this year.

As I watched the kids play, it looked like several returning Vikings should surely improve for next year, especially if they practice and play for the rest of the 2008 golf season.

Reduced playing outside of the school golf schedule has been an increasing issue for Cape, compared to prior Viking teams in years past.

Fans of the team just have to hope that the players have enough interest in the game to keep working at it over the next several months and to be in even better playing shape for the 2009 season.