Haverford School completes perfect run through Inter-Ac invitationals

   With three of its players among the seven who shared medalist honors with a 36 on the tough Huntingdon Valley Country Club layout, The Haverford School completed perfect 30-0-0 run through the Inter-Ac League’s regular-season gauntlet of six invitationals with its sixth straight sweep Tuesday.

   Two of the Haverford School seniors, A.J. Aivazoglou and Peter Garno, carded a 36 and sophomore Jake Maddaloni also had a 36 as the Fords put together a 183 total to edge Episcopal Academy by three shots.

   Mac Costin added a 37 and Sam Walker had a 38 as the Fords put together another solid round. Episcopal Academy and Malvern Prep are both very good teams and shared second place in the final standings at 21-9. Both came close to at least denying Haverford School the top spot in a couple of the invitationals, but the Fords always had the answer.

   The Haverford School had already wrapped up the league title after five invitationals, but this team matches the feat of the 2012 team that featured Scott Jaster as a senior and Cole Berman as a junior in going 30-0-0. They are the only two teams to have pulled that off since the Inter-Ac went to the invitational format when golf moved from the spring to the fall in 2011.

   Episcopal Academy, which carded a solid 186 team score, was led by junior Jacob Zeng and senior co-captain Robbie Copit, both of whom were among the large group of co-medalists at 36.

   Jacob Zeng’s solid round enabled him to finish first in the points standings the Inter-Ac puts together to determine the top player during the regular season. He is the first Episcopal player to capture that title and his 35.8 average was also the best in the league. More on the final individual standings in a minute.

   Episcopal Academy’s other senior co-captain and Jacob Zeng’s older brother, Mike Zeng, added a 37 and classmates James LeRoux and J.R. Rauscher added respective rounds of 38 and 39 to round out the counters for the Churchmen.

   Malvern Prep, which took third with a 189 total, was led by senior Matt Civitella, who also got a piece of medalist honors for the day with a 36. 

  Senior John Updike capped four years of excellence in Inter-Ac regular-season invitationals with a 38 and seniors Kevin Hagan and Chuck Andress posted respective scores of 39 and 40. Senior Andrew Curran and freshman Keller Mulhern each carded a 41, so either could be credited with the Friars’ final counter. Let’s give it to Curran since he has been an outstanding representative of the Malvern Prep program throughout his four years.

   The last of the seven players who shared medalist honors at Huntingdon Valley was Penn Charter sophomore Patrick Isztwan, who joined the group with a 36 on his home course. Penn Charter was the host for the invitational at Huntingdon Valley.

   Isztwan will be the defending champion when the top players gather Tuesday at Sunnybrook Golf Club for the Bert Linton Memorial Inter-Ac League Individual Championship. Isztwan carded a 75 at Huntingdon Valley to claim a win in the Bert Linton as a freshman last fall.

   The top 18 finishers in the points standings from the regular season qualify for the Bert Linton with each coach getting a wild card into the tournament. Isztwan was a wild card a year ago.

   Jacob Zeng held off Aivazoglou to finish atop the regular-season points standings at 241-24-17. To measure how much of an accomplishment it is for Zeng, you need only to check out the roster of talented players he beat.

   Aivazoglou, a left-hander who plays out of Rolling Green Golf Club, came on strong in the last few invitationals to finish second at 234-33-15 with a scoring average of 36.8.

   The Haverford School’s Mac Costin finished third with a 230-32-20 mark, his 36.7 scoring average slightly better than his teammate Aivazoglou.

   Civitella was solid all season for Malvern Prep and finished fourth with a record of 229-33-20 and 36.8 scoring average.

   The Haverford School’s Walker finished fifth with a 223-41-18 mark and a 37.2 scoring average. Malvern Prep’s Updike was sixth with a 219-49-14 mark and a 37.3 scoring average. And Haverford School’s Garno was seventh with a 214-49-19 and a 37.2 scoring average.

   The Haverford School had a remarkable seven players among the final top 12 in the individual standings with David Hurly finishing 10^th, Charlie Baker 11^th and Maddaloni 12^th.

   Following Episcopal Academy and Malvern Prep in the final team standings were Germantown Academy (10-19-1) in fourth, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (6-23-1) in fifth and Penn Charter (1-29-0) in sixth.