ITHACA - After firing a 77 on Sunday in the opening round of the New York state high school golf championships at Cornell University, Saranac Lake's Dustin Fischer was unable to follow the effort up with another low round in Monday's final round of the tournament.
But in his first appearance at the state championships, the Red Storm sophomore was still impressive. Standing in a tie for 13th place after the opening day, Fischer turned in an 87 in the second round for a 164 total to finish in a five-way tie for 46th place. Two of Fischer's teammates on the Section VII squad also finished with the same totals, as this year's sectional champion Ethan Votraw of Plattsburgh and 2011 Section VII winner John Hickey of AuSable Valley both had 164 totals. The trio was tops among the Section VII players in the tournament.
The winning score at this year's state championships was carded by Derek Bard of Section III's New Hartford Central School. The junior fired a 74 Sunday and followed with a three-under par 69 Monday to win by five strokes with a 143 total. Ben DeForest of Rondout Valley High School of Section IX was runner-up with rounds of 71 and 77 and a 148 total.
Article Photos
Dustin Fischer of Saranac Lake, shown here competing at the 2012 Section VII Championships at the Westport Golf Club, finished tied for 46th place at the state championships at Cornell University.
(Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)
Nine players from each section made up the 99-golfer field in the tournament, which also included a team competition. Senior Kyle Dora was the other Saranac Lake player who competed at Cornell. He shot rounds of 94 and 95 for a 189 total.
Also for Section VII: Elizabethtown's Brock Marvin had rounds of 84 and 83 for a 167 total, Nolan Reid of Northeastern Clinton shot a 92 and an 82 for a 174 total, Beekmantown's MaCullen Cope had an 87 and a 91 and a 178 total, Tyler White of Elizabethtown finished with an 82 and 92 and a 178 total and Lucas Wood of Plattsburgh finished with a 93 and 88 and a 181 total.
In the team competition, Section VIII narrowly won the title, finishing with a 1,094, which was two strokes better than runner-up Section III. Section VII's golfers placed 10th in the 11-team field with an 1,185 total.