South Jersey Sports Weekly is a new publication produced by Sun Newspapers that appears in physical copy within the Suns throughout South Jersey (in Moorestown, Medford, Cherry Hill, Washington Township, Deptford, etc). each Wednesday. Most of the content also appears online. The weekly, online notebook will provide you with even more of the content within SJSW’s physical pages.
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South Jersey Sports Weekly Player of the Week
JACK ROSS
Shawnee High School
Freshman
Golf
Shawnee High School’s Jack Ross has only been golfing for three years. He used to play baseball, but began to lose interest in it, so he decided to follow his grandfather and father’s footsteps into golf.
To say his high school career has gotten off to a good start would be a massive understatement.
Ross picked an opportune time to play his best golf last Thursday. In his first major high school tournament, Ross shot a 34 on the back nine at Valleybrook Country Club (his best score in nine holes this year) for a final score of 70 (two under par) to capture the championship of the Carl Arena/Al Rifkin Memorial Tournament, South Jersey’s premiere midseason event.
”It feels pretty good, I came out here without any expectations,” Ross said. “Everything was going well, I putted well, hit my irons really solid, I drove the ball. It was just a really solid day.”
For his tournament win, Ross was named the South Jersey Sports Weekly Athlete of the Week. The Shawnee freshman topped more than 200 golfers from 54 teams across the state.
“He’s never played the back nine here before, so to do that is incredible,” Shawnee coach Joe Kessler said. “It’s special to him, he’s such a great kid in addition to being a great golfer… I can’t say enough about him. He’s such a hard worker, plays all the time.”
Ross is Shawnee’s first Carl Arena winner since Ryan Jordan took the title in 2003. Ross finished three strokes ahead of Williamstown’s Liam Casper (73). Among teams, St. Augustine (313) bested Moorestown (320) and Williamstown (322).
On the girls’ side, Mainland’s Camille O’Halloran (79) nipped Ocean City’s Kasey Clifford after a two-hole playoff.
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Games to Watch
Wednesday, May 1 – Tuesday, May 7
Girls Lacrosse: Clearview vs. Washington Township
Wednesday, May 8
4 p.m. at Washington Township High School
Boys Lacrosse: Shawnee vs. St. Augustine
Friday, May 10
4:15 p.m. at St. Augustine Preparatory School
Track and Field: Camden County Championships
Saturday, May 11
9 a.m. at Haddon Township High School
Baseball: Diamond Classic Quarterfinals and Semifinals
Saturday, May 11
Quarterfinals: Cherry Hill West vs. Haddonfield, 10.m. at Deptford High School; Triton vs. Bishop Eustace, 10 a.m. at Washington Township High School; Eastern vs. Gloucester Catholic, 1 p.m. at Deptford; Shawnee vs. St. Augustine, 1 p.m. at Washington Twp.
Semifinals at 4 p.m. at same locations.
Softball: Cherokee at Shawnee
Monday, May 13
3:45 p.m. at Shawnee High School
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Scenes from Last Week
Third Annual GolfU LPGA Girls Golf Classic
(All photos: MIKE MONOSTRA, South Jersey Sports Weekly)
Shawnee at Cherry Hill West
Baseball
(All photos: RYAN LAWRENCE, South Jersey Sports Weekly)
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Stories from Last Week
- Style and substance: Cherry Hill East junior Addi Mann, who has a flair for wearing fashionable pants on the greens, can hang with the best girls and boys golfers in South Jersey.
- Cherry Hill West baseball went to Virginia Beach over Easter break and beat three teams by a combined score of 44-5. They took an unbeaten record against NJ foes into the first weekend of May, too, and could be destined for big things in the next month.
- How do you top scoring 100 goals as a junior? You reach 70 before the end of April as a senior to catapult yourself toward the top of state leaders and your team into contending with the area’s best, too. A one-on-one with Seneca lacrosse’s Cassidy Spilis.
- Power player: Cherokee’s Arjun Mannan is already a county and conference singles champion. He’s now looking to make a run at the 2019 South Jersey Interscholastic Championships.
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