PAOLA -- Three rounds scoring in the top four produced a Regional championship for Fort Scott High's golfers here Monday as the Tigers shot a season-best 312 to claim the Paola Regional.

All six members of Fort Scott's team will go on to play in the Class 4A State Tournament at the Wamego Country Club next Monday.

Sophomore Cole Murrin won a playoff to win the individual crown after he (34-40) and Paola's Brad Pfaltzgraff (37-37) both finished regulation with 74's.

"After a week of rainouts with a very limited amount of practice, I really didn't know what to expect from our team," Fort Scott head coach Ken Klassen said. "With the exception of one bad hole ending in a four-putt green, Cole played a round worthy of a State, let alone Regional, champion.

"In his playoff for first place, he hit a spectacular shot from under a tree off of bare ground that reminded me of a shot Joe Ida hit last year in winning the State championship."

Chris Brown shot 35-40--75 to take third place. Dylan Renfro, who began the season shooting in the low 90's, posted a 36-40--76 to finish fourth. That's his low score of the season by seven strokes -- he had shot 83 three times.

"If Chris plays up to his ability (next week), he, too, could be playing for a State title," Klassen said. "Dylan may have surprised some to shoot as well as he did. But I have been expecting him to dip down into the 70's all year. This young man has worked really hard this year to bring himself up to this caliber of play."

Luke Geneva's 40-47--87 rounded out Fort Scott's top four scores for the team total. That was 15th in the field. Paul Norris shot 45-48--93 and Tanner Beckham came in at 51-49--100.

The Tigers finished 12 strokes ahead of host Paola, which shot 326 and earned the other automatic team berth.

Team scores

Qualifying teams: 1. Fort Scott (FS) 312 (Murrin 74, Brown 75, Renfro 76, Geneva 87), 2. Paola (PA) 326 (Pfaltzgraff 74, Crawford 81, Plummer 85, Reed 86).

Other teams: 3. Louisburg (L) 335 (Fenske 80, DeLand 83, Storey 84, Sears 88), 4. Anderson County 360 (Suderman 86, Fritz 87, Rhoades 93, Oestriecher 94), 5. Baldwin (B) 364 (Flory 80, Madl 90, Green 94, Harris 100), 6. Iola 372 (A.Ellis 89, Walden 92, Starks 93, C. Ellis 98),

7. Spring Hill (SH) 391 (Whitesell 83, Ahlenstorf 86, Raasch 102, Wessel 120), 8. Lenexa St. James Academy 400 (Maner 98, Fortney 99, Wieger 100, Burgoon 103), 9. Osawatomie 416 (Soucie 93, Zwick 98, Russell 101, Davis 124).

Incomplete team: Prairie View.

Medalists

1. Cole Murrin, FS, 34-40--74; 2. Brad Pfaltzgraff, PA, 37-37--74; 3. Chris Brown, FS, 35-40--75; 4. Dylan Renfro, FS, 36-40--76; 5. Jake Fenske, L, 40-40--80;

6. Kirby Flory, B, 39-41--80; 7. Clay Crawford, PA, 42-39--81; 8. Dustin DeLand, L, 41-42--83; 9. Aaron Whitesell, SH, 40-43--83; 10. Jake Storey, L, 44-40--84.