Licata leads Petoskey at BNC Championships, regional ahead
GAYLORD — If you go by the last time the Petoskey boys’ golf team made a trip to Gaylord to compete, Wednesday came with some improvement.
And that’s always a good thing in golf.
The teams of the Big North Conference visited Gaylord Wednesday for the annual BNC Championships, held this year at the Gaylord Country Club.
As they’ve done throughout the season, Traverse City Central again stole the show as the top team.
Coming off a 301 in their hosted invite earlier in the week, the Trojans jumped up a bit Wednesday, though still led by a handful of strokes with a 310.
Alpena then placed second with a 333, followed by Traverse City West, 342; Petoskey, 361; Cadillac, 368; and Gaylord, 374. The Blue Devils played without top golfer, Kole Putnam.
The 361 for the Northmen was a jump up from a 355 earlier in the week and rounds of 354 and 356 shot at the Big Rapids hosted Katke Classic late last week.
The Northmen also previously shot 365 in a Gaylord hosted round on The Tribute at the Otsego Resort and last shot 361 at an Alpena BNC round earlier this month.
Four TC Central golfers stole the top four spots for Wednesday’s round, including Graham Peters as the medalist with a 76.
Michael Beattie, Boston Price and Cameron Mansfield also all shot 78 to tie for second. Alpena’s Gavin Hamp also shot 79 to round out the top five.
Petoskey was led by Andrew Licata with an 83, three strokes lower than earlier in the week.
The Northmen also had Max Faulkner shoot 86, Nolan Jarvis carded a 94, William Rogier shot 98; Caleb Knickerbocker, 98; and Gavin Galbraith, 102.
Licata and Faulkner have stayed consistent over the last month, both shooting 86 in Traverse City on Monday, while Faulkner carded 77 and 78 in Big Rapids and Licata shot 83 and 93.
Galbraith also owns rounds of 85 and 89 over the last month.
Petoskey will get right back into action on Thursday for an Ogemaw Heights hosted round at The Nightmare Golf Course in West Branch, the final round before its Division 2 regional held at Timber Ridge in East Lansing on Wednesday, May 31.
The Northmen have some work to do to get into the range likely needed to qualify for the Division 2 state championships, though the good news is that even if they don't, the entire six-player lineup the Northmen brought to Wednesday's round will return next season.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Licata leads Petoskey at BNC Championships, regional ahead
