In the chilling cold and howling wind, the Trinity Shamrocks placed second in the Sixth Region golf tournament on Sept. 29 at the Seneca Golf Course.

The Rocks scored a 323, 14 shots behind the winner, St. Xavier, and two strokes better than Ballard and Christian Academy.

The Tigers went on to win the state a week later in Bowling Green as the Rocks missed the cut but finished 13th.

Competing in the regional for the Rocks were senior Michael Stoess, junior Hunt Lenz, sophomores Andrew Perito and Sean Rolfes and freshman Stephen Stallings.

Perito led the team with a solid score of 78 in the poor conditions, followed by Rolfes with 80, Stoess with 82 and Lenz with 83.

Coach Steven Tompkins said, “We hung in there. Conditions were tough so it was important to be mentally strong.”

Lenz said, “We all didn’t play that well, but in the big picture we got the job done.”

Of the state tournament, Tompkins said, “We can’t get caught up in who we’re playing because we’re playing the golf course.”

Stoess said, “We need to be more consistent as a team with our scores. There was too much of a range from our first golfer to our fourth.”

Tompkins praised the work of his surprising team.

He said, “Nobody expected us to be where we are now. Nobody expected us to qualify for state in the preseason. It’s a testament to the work of our players.”