ELYRIA — In a day better suited for ducks than birdies, Lutheran West won the Division II sectional team title Tuesday in rainy, cold and windy conditions at Forest Hills Golf Center.

Veteran coach Karen Wittrock’s Longhorns are in their first Division II competition — they were one boy over the Division III maximum enrollment — and scored an impressive 314 to advance to next Tuesday’s district tournament at Windmill Lakes Golf Course near Ravenna. The top three teams there will go to the state tournament where Lutheran West finished ninth in 2003 — its last appearance at state.

The other three schools qualifying for districts were Bay at 327, Firelands at 328 and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy at 333.

Despite the steady rain, cold temperatures and high winds, Ben Lehrke led the way for Lutheran West with a 2-over-par 72, easily bettering Bay runner-up Jeff Hunger’s 77.

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Mat Stuart of Black River was the top individual qualifier — a golfer whose team did not qualify — with a 78. The other three individual qualifiers were Joe Magas of Independence, Cooper Conrad of Loudonville and Jeff Haddad of Buckeye — all finishing with 79s.

“The weather affected my tee shots more than anything,” said Lehrke, a senior. “Into the wind, the holes were playing much longer than usual. I mostly used my 4- and 5-woods off the tees because for me they are more accurate. I hit a bunch of approach shots within 5 feet of the pin.

My best shot of the day was a 140-yard pitching wedge to within 2 feet for a birdie on the 11th hole, which was my second hole. I had two other birdies, on the first and 15th holes.

“These were the worst conditions I’ve played in all year. The wind probably bothered me the most because it was always changing directions. The greens were slow, but not as slow as I would have thought considering all the rain.”

He had only 27 putts, his longest a 20-footer for birdie on the first hole.

“Ben had a great day,” Wittrock said. “I never expected him to shoot a 72 today. But he has been playing very well (he was medalist at 71 in the Patriot Athletic Conference tournament last Tuesday) so maybe I should have expected him to. Our kids mudded it out today pretty well. They went out with a great attitude. Today was really tough weather.”

Others on the winning team were Nick Blackburn with an 81, Louis Durban with a 79 and Mike Crum with an 86. The fifth man was Jared Fristik at 86.

Stuart, who was the PAC’s Player of the Year, started off his round with a double bogey on the opening hole after three-putting.

“I thought, ‘Oh no,’” he said after the hole, thinking he was headed for a bad round. But he recovered nicely and hit a 30-foot putt for his lone birdie on the fourth hole.

“I didn’t have much distance all day because the rain and wind were knocking down all my shots. I adjusted by clubbing up on my shots.”

He had only 34 putts in shooting back-to-back 39s for his qualifying 78, which was third-lowest in the field.

Firelands coach Joseph Miller was pleased to get one of the four qualifying team spots.

“We didn’t have any great scores, but the nice thing was we didn’t have any blow-ups, either,” he said. “We have a chance to shoot better in the district.”

This is Firelands’ third straight district appearance. It finished sixth at districts last year.

Andrew Northeim and Gabe Battistelli led the Falcons with 83s, followed by Matt Gregory and Josh Kaiser at 86. The fifth man, Vince Vitale, had an 88.

Team standings (top four advance to district)

Lutheran West 314 (medalist Ben Lehrke 72), Bay 327 (Jess Hunger 77), Firelands 328 (Andrew Northeim and Gabe Battistelli 83), CVCA 333 (Jaco Forsythe 78), Independence 341 (Joe Magas 79), Loudonville 342 (Conrad Cooper 79), Elyria Catholic 347 (Josh Taylor 81), Keystone 353 (Bryan Yeo 83), Buckeye 354 (Jeff Haddad 79), Woodridge 357 (Brandon Shannon 82), Vermilion 361 (Andy Ingram 81), Fairview 368 (Adam Saunders 82), Black River 370 (Mat Stuart 78), Holy Name 372 (Ron Narokewski 84), Wellington 389 (Freddy Senghas 84), Brooklyn 390 (Seane Blaine 88).

Top four individual district qualifiers

Mat Stuart, Black River 78. Joe Magas, Independence 79, Cooper Conrad, Loudonville 79 , Jeff Haddad, Buckeye 79.

Contact Jerry Rombach at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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