Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Or in the case of Glenelg sophomore Caleb Taylor, it makes you hungrier.
Less than one week after falling short of a county championship title in a three-hole playoff, Taylor came out Monday at Crofton Country Club for the District V Championship tournament as a man on a mission. Firing an even par round of 72, he bested the field by three shots and captured the first postseason triumph of his young high school career.
"It was tough to not close that one out [at counties], but it just left me eager to come and play today," Taylor said. "To put up a good round and close this one out feels really good."
Taylor's victory served as just one of many standout performances from Howard County individuals and teams at the qualifying tournament for the state championships, which are scheduled for Oct. 22-24 at the University of Maryland Golf Course.
Marriotts Ridge's Faith McIlvain shot a one-under-par 71 and rolled to a 10-stroke victory in the girls competition, helping lead the Mustangs to the overall team title as well. Marriotts Ridge ended up with a total of 306, edging second-place River Hill (313) and third-place South River (320).
Overall, of the 19 boys individuals that shot 82 or better — guaranteeing themselves a spot at the state tournament — 14 were from Howard County. And four of the top five girls — all shooting 90 or better — were from the county as well.
Additionally, Centennial (332) qualified as a team.
It's the second straight year that Howard County has three teams headed to the state tournament.
Taylor rebounds
Last year, Glenelg's Taylor fired a round of 83 at the district tournament and missed qualifying for states by two shots. This year, he made amends.
After a bogey on his opening hole, he regrouped to play his final 17 in one-under and along the way made four birdies. None was more important than the bounce-back birdie on the par 4 seventh hole, following up a bogey on the sixth, to increase his lead from one to two with just two holes to play.
That poise under pressure turned out to be the difference.
"The last few holes, I just treated it like any other hole of golf," Taylor said. "It's something I learned from listening to interviews of professional players. They are in the Sunday of a major, walking down the 18th fairway, they just treat it like any other hole of golf. And that's what I tried to treat it like."
"It ended up calming me down and I hit some good shots near the end."
Taylor ended up hitting the green on the par 3 ninth hole and two-putting for par to put the finishing touches on his victory.
There was a three-way tie for second place behind him. River Hill's Kevin Hickey and Jackson Graves, along with Severna Park's Addison Wells, all fired rounds of 75. Centennial's Kenny Chaplain and South River's Eddie Sarrach were right behind that in a tie for fifth with 76s.
Rounding out the top 10 individually were Atholton's Branden Nguyen (77), South River's Joey Fidyk (77), Oakland Mills' Adam Fairbanks (78) and Marriotts Ridge's duo of Justin Allen (78) and Isaac Kim (78).
Other qualifying boys from Howard County individually were Marriotts Ridge's Manny Guillen (81), Reservoir's Justin Gutierrez (81) and Howard's Jason Wheeler (82).