FORT SCOTT Yates Center and Humboldt golfers battled through the hilly and forested terrain at Fort Scotts aptly-named Woodland Hills Golf Course Monday morning and afternoon at the 2A Regional Tournament.
By the final hole, it was the Wildcats who managed to take home the first place plaque to continue their string of top finishes this season while Humboldt saw one of their best finish third and qualify for the state tournament next week.
Sophomore Easton Rey-nolds led the way for Yates Center with a 77 and a second- place finish. The first-place finisher, a freshman from Lawrence-Bishop Seabury Academy, shot a 75.
Reynolds had practiced the course the day before and shot a 72 from the white tee box which is a little farther back than the yellow tee box that the tournament was played from on Monday which may have thrown the sophomore off a little bit.
I think it made a difference for me, Reynolds said. Playing from the yellow tee instead of the white doesnt make too much of difference for most people but for someone like me, I would have been able to hit fuller shots into the green and not just chip shots. It just means theres less room for error.
Junior Reece Solander put in an 81 for fourth followed by an 82 by freshman Jack King for fifth. Senior Aaron King shot an 89 which tied for ninth but he lost a playoff which pushed him down to 10th.
Addison Solander rounded out the team with a 114.
They always contribute well, head coach Mike Fitzgerald said of the boys. Today a couple of them were a little off but overall the team did an excellent job out there. But what really made me happy is that I saw a couple of different groups today, and each was standing along the tee box, talking and laughing with each other and they were making friends. Thats what its all about. They werent letting the game control them.
Humboldt
For the Cubs, senior Ryan Sellman had a strong showing including hitting several really nice putts down the stretch on his way to third-place overall with a score of 80. He qualified for state as an individual for the fourth-straight year.
Ryan played well but he just needs to work on his chipping around the greens, head coach Scott Brady said. He probably couldve saved four or five strokes had he played a little better there. He drove it well today, hit his irons well and hit some nice putts. His 80 today was good but were going to be looking for something a little lower at state.
Other Cub finishers included juniors Drake Hottenstein who shot a 103, Reid Smith who shot a 103 and Roni Bulk who shot 111.
Aiden Johnson shot a 149.
Brady said if these juniors commit themselves in the offseason to improving, any one of them may find their way into the top 10.
If they can just bring their scores down a little bit then maybe a couple of them can sneak into state next year, Brady said. Theyll just have to work at it.
The 2A State meet will be held at the Hesston Golf Park next Monday with a 9 a.m. tee time.
