Colonia team manages to overcome a tough situation The Colonia High School golf team finished the season with a 16-7 record, a mark that head coach Stephen Gletizman characterized as “fantastic.” “This was a real nice season for our program,” said Gletizman, who added that coaching golf at Colonia High School is different than coaching golf at many other schools. “Because of lack of tee times at our local golf course, much of our practice is in our gym,” he said. “We sometimes practice with whiffle balls, other times we hit real golf balls into nets that go across the gym. This still doesn’t give the kids the feel of being out on the golf course.” Despite the lacking practice facilities, Gletizman believes his team will be good next year. This year’s team not only finished with an overall record of 16-7, but also finished 9-4 in the White Division of the Greater Middlesex Conference. They also qualified for the state tournament on the cutoff day, beating Bishop Ahr through a tiebreaker in which the teams had to compare their fifth golfers’ scores. In the state tournament, the Patriots were seeded eighth, but finished fifth a head of local rivals Monroe, Spotswood and St. Joseph’s. “It is a great season when you qualify as a team for the state tournament,” said Gletizman, who had his team qualify for the third straight year. “It was very impressive the way we played in the tournament. We beat some teams on the big stage that beat us in the regular season. That is impressive. I can’t say enough for the way our kids played.” Colonia also did well in the Greater Middlesex County Tournament, and Gletizman hopes his team can “raise the bar” next year and have even a better season. — Mike McDonald