The Rowan College of South Jersey Roadrunners Men's and Women's Golf Teams are officially halfway through their regular season and have clearly established themselves as the frontrunners in both Region XIX and Garden State Athletic Conference competition.
The Roadrunner women, led by a pair of veterans in Captain Nancy Davidson and Alaina Villari, are shooting lower scores than last season and along with new addition Lanie Guzman are preparing for post-season competition. The resistance will be provided at the Region XIX tournament by Sydni Sundstrom and Kayla Sweeney from Lehigh Carbon Community College. Coach Davidson is proud of how hard his team is working to prepare and feels that they will be in peak form in time for the tournament. Nancy Davidson, the runner-up to graduated teammate Skylar Amoroso in last year's Region tournament, will face a challenge in Sundstrom, who has been competing for Lehigh Carbon's men's team this season and playing from the men's tees. Both Davidson (96.75) and Sundstrom (99) are averaging under 100 for 18 holes. Villari's scores have been coming down steadily as she has returned to regular practice and play after two grueling seasons starring for the Roadrunners' soccer and basketball teams.
"Nancy (Davidson) and Alaina (Villari) are playing well, which doesn't surprise me since they've competed with each other for many years going back to their days at Pitman High School," said Davidson. "The women's team is starting to play very well and will only get better."
The men's team remains undefeated in formal competition this year, besting the fields at Twin Lakes, LBI National, Galloping Hills, and Flanders Vally (also the site of the Garden State Athletic Conference Championship on May 1). Captain Logan Perrone boasts the lowest scoring average (81.5) in official NJCAA competition in Coach Davidson's tenure, which positions Perrone as having the second-best scoring average in Region XIX behind Union College's returning All-American standout Patrick Murray (73.5). Closely on Perrone's heels are first-year teammates Nick Iulliucci (82.33) and Eddie Mazurkiewicz (85), giving the Roadrunners 3 of the Region's top 6 scorers.
"We've played very well and have been extremely consistent," said Coach Davidson. "We're also fortunate to have so much depth -- others step up on days when someone else may not be playing well."
Despite being bothered by a sore wrist, captain Logan Perrone nonetheless turned in a solid outing to help the winning effort. "Logan is a range rat because he loves to practice so much -- so he just needs a couple days rest."
Perrone, Iulliucci, and Mazurkiewicz have consistently played well, but the secret to the Roadrunners' success has been newcomers Hayes Hulitt, Paul Welker, and Alex Seber tag-teaming to post the team's fourth score in each match. According to Coach Davidson, "As well as our top three golfers have been playing, knowing that Hayes, Paul, or Alex will post a score that will help us seal the deal each week is a nice luxury to have." Davidson added, "We're working toward and looking forward to having something click in the game of one of those three (in all their games would be better) that will help to close the scoring average between them and our top three."
When asked about the outlook for the remainder of the regular season, Davidson said, "Our goal is to practice and play to prepare for May. That means training to avoid and minimize potential injury while bringing our collective short games (play on and around the greens) into the form we'll need for post-season competition and the pressure that goes along with it."
The Roadrunners have an important stretch of regular season matches coming up, including a Monday preview of the Regional Tournament at Ash Brook Golf Course in Scotch Plains, Union County, the Runner's home event at Pitman Golf Course on April 22, a pit stop at Running Deer hosted by RCSJ Cumberland on 4/24 and then on to the GSAC Championship at Flanders Valley on May 1.