Excellent conditions greeted the 20 four-person teams that played in the two flights of the inaugural Perry Wrestling Golf Outing at the Perry Golf and Country Club Sunday.
Several contests were held in the nine-hole event, with a silent auction held afterward to add to the funds generated for the Perry Junior Jays Wrestling Club. Official numbers were not known at the time of publication but were said to be in the “several thousand dollar” range.
“This was awesome for it being the first year of us doing this,” an excited varsity head coach Mark Weber said. “I thought we had a wide-ranging and proud representation of supporters here today.”
Each hole had two separate business or private sponsors, with Weber thanking those involved for the generosity, as well as extending gratitude to Tyson Foods and Fareway for donations for the after-golf dinner.
“Mindy Baxter and Eileen Splendore really put in a lot of time helping organize the whole thing, and they and all of the many volunteers deserve so much credit,” Weber said. “The Junior Jays will really benefit from this, but even more it shows the depth of the support the community has for wrestling in Perry, and that is extremely important.”
Lem Darr won the First Flight, with Tony Andrews second and Steve Wilkening third. Shaun Welch was the winner of the Second Flight, with Nick Field and Tim Walton following.
Scott Hughes won the longest putt (hole seven), with Noah Wilkening bashing the longest drive (hole eight) and closest to the pin on hole two was Luke Rathje.
“There is nothing that can help keep the varsity and high school programs stronger and better than an active youth program, and it was great to see all the support the Junior Jays have,” Weber said. “We are already thinking of ways we can make this even more exciting for next year.”
