Miller And Frankel Lead Gilman To Title

Gilman's Brad Miller and Jason Frankel

By: Tyler Alfriend

The recent golf championships at the Caves Valley Golf Club marked the end of one of the most competitive seasons in local high school golf history as well as the culmination of an incredibly successful era for Gilman golf seniors Brad Miller and Jason Frankel.

The Gilman Greyhounds (14-1) faced off against the Calvert Hall Cardinals (13-2) last Saturday, and by a dominating score of 14-7, the Hounds were able to reclaim the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship trophy after a year-long hiatus.

For seniors Miller and Frankel, both of whom have competed on the varsity golf team for four years, this was exactly how they wanted to finish their high school careers.

“Having won the championship as sophomores and then having lost a heartbreaker to St. Paul’s in last year’s championship match, there is nothing sweeter than winning the trophy our senior year,” Frankel said.

Going into the season, the Greyhounds were immediately regarded as the front-runners in the race for the MIAA championship. Right off the bat, the team received a reality check which came in the form of a 12.5-8.5 loss to Archbishop Spalding.

On the 40 minute bus ride back to campus, coach Don Rogers talked about the need to put the loss behind them.

“Coach basically told us that the season starts now,” Frankel said. “He made sure that as soon as we were ready to tee off again, that loss to Spalding was out of our heads.”

The Greyhounds took these words to heart as they tore through the rest of their schedule, winning the next 11 matches in one of the toughest MIAA A conferences in history.

Though the varsity roster changes every year, the one constant in the program is Rogers. He has led the program to four straight championship matches, and with this win, he has evened his championship record to 2-2. Frankel and Miller, like many of their predecessors, feel as though they owe much of their success to Rogers.

“As great as it felt hoisting the championship plaque in the air, it felt even better handing it over to Coach Rogers,” Frankel said. “I cannot even tell you how much he has helped me grow as a golfer and as a person.”

“Coach always stresses the fact that golf is a team sport, and that in order for the program to mature, the leaders on the team need to help the young guys,” Miller said. “Just as Chris Rockwell and Greg Stamas [’06] mentored me and Jason, we have done our best to act upon Coach’s words and help our two freshman standouts Sam Stewart and Linn Worthington.”

Having played on the team together since freshman year, Frankel and Miller have become incredibly close on and off the green.

“We have been partners for four years now, and there is nobody I trust more,” Miller said. “We constantly feed off of each other’s energy. Jason always knows exactly what to say when I am in a slump.”

“When I found out that a prior commitment would keep me from playing in the individual tournament, I immediately went to see Coach Rogers to ask him if I could caddy for Brad on Wednesday,” Frankel said. “Brad and I are a fantastic team, and there is nothing I enjoy more than watching Brad dominate the field.”

For Miller, dominating the field is almost an understatement. So far this season, he has recorded forty-six birdies, nearly doubling the previous school record and has accumulated a record of 14-0-2 in match play. Throughout this spring, the pair has routinely performed as two of the top players at the high school level. Their effort, match in and match out, has helped Gilman to win every contest by an average score of 17-4.

Although Rogers is losing his two leaders in Frankel and Miller, Gilman will return rising seniors Hunter Rief and Arthur Worthington as well as rising sophomores Stewart and Worthington. Miller, who competed in the 2007 U.S. Junior Amateur, will continue his golfing career at the University of Richmond.

Posted May 23, 2008