The St. Mary’s golf team won its second consecutive state championship this past fall, and Thursday night the Spartans will be honored for their accomplishments at Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium. During halftime of the St. Mary’s-Bishop Fenwick boys basketball game, the golfers will receive their championship rings and trophies.
“They truly played a team game, even though a lot of people consider golf to be an individual sport,” said St. Mary’s athletic director Jeff Newhall. “But to win the state championship by one shot, there’s a lot of things that need to go right as a team and a lot of guys who need to play well. It’s a great group of kids and we’re happy to honor them in this way.”
After winning the 2017 state championship, the St. Mary’s golf team came into the 2018 season with high expectations. Those expectations were surpassed, as the Spartans rolled through the regular season behind the efforts of the full team. Led by the brotherly duo of Christian and Aiden Emmerich, St. Mary’s went unbeaten in conference play, won the Catholic Central League title and went into the Division 3 North tournament as the top seed.
At Far Corner Golf Club in Boxford, St. Mary’s earned a one-stroke victory in the sectional championship, beating Weston after shooting a total score of 332. Christian Emmerich finished the day with a 5-over 77 to lead the pack, while Aiden Emmerich came in with a 9-over 81. Luke Smith and Luke Sargent each shot a 15-over 87 to round out the qualifying scores for St. Mary’s.
The following week, the Spartans traveled to Georgetown’s Black Swan Country Club to compete in the Division 3 state championship. For the second week in a row, St. Mary’s (323) earned a one-stroke win, this time over Dover-Sherborn (324), to repeat as state champion. Christian and Aiden Emmerich once again led St. Mary’s with the best individual performances, as Christian shot a 72 and won the Division 3 individual championship for the second consecutive year. Aiden shot a 73 and earned runner-up honors. Rounding out the Spartans’ individual scores were Luke Smith (86), Owen Maguire (92), Peter Pagliuca (93) and Luke Sargent (96).
With the golf team’s victory, St. Mary’s athletics has won at least one state championship for 12 years in a row.
“This has been a great run going back some years now, we’ve had at least one every year,” Newhall said. “All the kids in every sport deserve a lot of credit for what they’ve done over the years and we’re certainly proud of everything they’ve accomplished.”