La Salle Rolls to 5th Straight State Title
GolfNewsRI’s coverage of High School Golf is presented by Golf365RI.
The La Salle Rams won their fifth straight High School State Championship on Wednesday afternoon at Cranston Country Club.
They are the first team in Rhode Island High School golf history to win five straight State Titles.
“We are going for six. There is no intent to stop. We built an unbelievable team culture this year. Guys were super close, we played for each other. We knew if we didn’t play great, the other was going to have our back, and that’s big for us,” said Drew MacLeod.
The Rams carded a two-day team score of 595 to beat Barrington by 20 shots.
Ironically, it was the Eagles who won eight of nine titles from 2002-2010, but never five in a row.
“It’s crazy. Great tournament, a lot of great players. It’s fun. The kids knew about it before the season even started and they were talking about it, wanted to get it done,” Head Coach Steve White told GolfNewsRI after the round.
The Rams will go for six-straight titles next season.
Leading La Salle
The Rams were led in the tournament by MacLeod, who won his second straight boys individual title with a two-day score of 142.
“He was psyched. He came into the season with two goals, win the team title and win the individual title. He trained all year for it and he came through. Today was a grind, but that’s the sign of a good golfer,” said White.
Sam Perry and Brent Rollo finished in a tie for third with a two-day score of 149, while Nate Jackson carded a 157.
Special Guests in Attendance
What made the victory extra special for La Salle and Coach White was the presence of La Salle greats Max Jackson and Olivia Williams.
“It’s nice to see the kids who started it coming out to support the team. Olivia Williams is here, Max Jackson is here so some of the kids on that first team came back to root on the kids, it was fantastic,” said White.
Williams helped the Rams to four-straight State Titles and captures two Girls State Titles in her career.
She just finished her freshman year playing golf at Merrimack.
Jackson won two Boys State Titles and led the Rams to three-straight team titles.
He just finished his sophomore year playing golf at Rutgers.
“It means everything. Max is one of my big mentors in the game so just to have him out there in support is awesome. Liv coming back, that was very nice. It just shows the culture that we have at La Salle and what we have built,” said MacLeod.
Max’s younger brother Nate is currently a junior on the roster and finished in 18th this week.
Team Leaderboard
1. La Salle – 595
2. Barrington – 615
3. Cranston West – 616
4. Hendricken – 620