Glen Ridge HS golfer Dean Cerimido finishes second at the ECT

GLEN RIDGE – Glen Ridge High School junior Dean Cerimido finished second overall at the Essex County Tournament at the Francis Byrne Golf Course in West Orange on Wednesday, April 20.

Cerimido carded a 77, two shots behind Seton Hall Prep junior Creighton Hendrix.

The Ridgers finished eighth in the team standings.

Cerimido shot a 38 on the Front 9 and a 39 on the Back 9.

GRHS head coach Steve Reitberger was proud of Cerimido’s terrific showing.

“He’s golfed for a long time,” Reitberger said. “He’s a student of the game. He’s pretty steady. His whole season has been steady. His bad day is somebody else’s good day. He’s been involved with golf for a long time with the Glen Ridge Country Club. Dean finishing in second is great!” Reitberger estimated that Cermido is five or six over par on average for this season.

The Ridgers’ next-best finisher at the ECT was senior Jacob Ruiz, who finished with an 83 (40-43). Each team had five golfers.

The Ridgers are having a strong season, with a 6-1 record through April 21. The lone loss was to Nutley by just two strokes, 170-172, at Hendricks Golf Course in Nutley.

“So far the team has been doing well,” Reitberger said. “We’ve been scoring well. Different guys have been scoring well. You need at least three good scorers for victories, and we’ve been doing pretty well.”

Essex County Tournament

Team standings
1. Montclair, 334 net score
2 (tie). Nutley 337
2 (tie). Montclair Kimberley 337
4. Seton Hall Prep, 338
5. Livingston, 344
6. Millburn, 345
7. West Essex, 355
8. Glen Ridge, 357
9. Newark Academy, 360
10. Verona, 366
11. West Orange, 395
12. Caldwell, 438
13. Bloomfield, 459
14. Belleville, 482
15. St Benedict’s Prep, 548

Top 5 individual finishers
1. Creighton Hendrix, Seton Hall Prep, 75
2. Dean Cerimido, Glen Ridge, 77
3. Michael Purcell, Nutley, 78
4 (tie). Sam Goldenring, Newark Academy, 79
4 (tie). Ryan Polizzi, Montclair Kimberley Academy, 79