INDEPENDENCE — Iola High’s Chris Holloway will cap his freshman year on the golf course with a trip to the state tournament.
Holloway qualified via his sixth-place finish Monday at the Class 4A Regional Tournament hosted by the Independence Country Club.
Holloway carded an 88, 10 strokes behind individual champion Drayton Cleaver of Chanute.
He did so by limiting the damage on some of the course’s toughest holes, limiting his round to a pair of double bogeys and one triple bogey.
Alas, Iola’s other freshman golfer, Xander Sellman, came up just short in his qualifying bid.
Sellman’s 93 put him in a three-way tie for 11th on the day — one stroke out of earning a state bid.
Josh Kaufman finished 22nd at 109.
Holloway will venture to Dodge City Monday for the Class 4A Meet at Mariah Hills Golf Course.
ELSEWHERE on the links Monday, Yates Center will send three golfers to state, including regional champion Easton Reynolds.
Reynolds carded a 4-under-par 68 at Erie’s Prairie Ridge Golf Course to win the Class 2A Regional by three strokes over Nicholas Ison of Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan and Reynolds’s Wildcat teammate Jack King, who tied for second.
Also qualifying for Yates Center was Collin Randall, who finished in a tie for 18th at 104.
The Wildcats missed qualifying as a team by four strokes, finishing just behind Colgan in the team scores.
Other golfers for the Wildcats were Canon Cavender, who finished 28th with a 124; Carter Burton, 29th at 127, and Zeno Jimenez, 30th at 130.
Humboldt’s Brennen Neussen also earned a state bid in Erie with his 108, which placed him 22nd. Colton Slocum finished 23rd at 111, while Clay Shannon carded a 117, putting him at 24th.
Reynolds, King, Randall and Neussen will travel to Salina Monday for the Class 4A State Meet.
