Medaglia and Jackson Lead the Way as Raiders Defeat Park View in Golf Dual

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By: Andy Andrews

Sterling (Aug. 13, 2007) – Loudoun County High School senior Tommy Medaglia shot a 76 and sophomore Dan Jackson turned in a 79 Monday morning at Algonkian to lead the Raiders to a AA Dulles District golf dual meet win over Park View.

The Raiders (1-0) shot a 322 total with junior Michael Walker carding a 83 and senior Derek Bulman coming in at 84. County also had solid No. 5 and No. 6 rounds from a pair of freshman, Michael Linville (86) and Brantley Kushner (87).

“We’re young, but I’m pleased with the talent and work ethic of our guys,” said Loudoun County coach John Laylock , who has high expectations for his team this year, despite graduating his top three players from last season including district invidual champion Kevin McLister. “We lost our top three from last year, but our top four guys will really dictate how our team places. Those (district mini-tournaments) will show us where we stand with the rest of the district. At County, we have a history of winning so we go into every match and tournament we play expecting to win.”

One reason for Laycock’s optimism is the vastly improved play of four-year player Medaglia, who wasn’t even a regular starter last year and failed to qualify for the district tournament. This year, however, he has taken the district by storm so far.

“Tommy is a prime example of a player responding to a setback. He missed qualifying for the district tournament by just a couple strokes last year and he has really used that as a motivational tool and has worked really hard,” said Laylock.

In addition to his low medalist honors in Monday’s match, Medaglia led all Loudoun golfers with his fourth place 74 in the season-opening Curly Licklider Invitational. On Sunday, Medaglia won the Lowes Island Country Club Junior Golf Championship, als0 with a 74.

The Patriots (0-1), making their Dulles District dual match debut under first-year coach Larry Hinders, finished at 390 with freshman Jake Wilton leading the way at 88.

“Our team goals are to improve over last year and bring along our young players so they can have a good handle on the game,” said Hinders

The entire Dulles District will meets Wednesday at Raspberry Falls for the first of two mini tournament that will help decide the regular-season championship. Each mini tournament counts for one-third towards the district title with the dual meet season making up the final third. The regular-season champion advances to the Region II tournament along with the district meet champion (or district meet runner-up should the regular-season champion win).