Tiger golfers step up two spots at Iola

IOLA -- Fort Scott High School's golf team improved two spots from its season-opening outing and finished fourth in the second of the four Southeast Kansas League designated tournaments here Tuesday afternoon.

Tanner Beckham shot 41 on the front nine and 42 on the back to finish with a seventh-place total of 83.

"He's playing with more confidence and performing at a higher level now, and I expect him to continue to improve as the season progresses," Fort Scott head coach Ken Klassen said.

Nolan Stark finished with the Tigers' best score of 45-43--86 but had a bad experience on the final three holes.

"Nolan was tied for the lead in the tournament with three holes to play but was 10 strokes over par on his last three holes," Klassen said. "Neither he nor I can explain it, but he was terribly disappointed. He's determined to bounce back, and I expect him to do so at Crestwood next week."

Lyle Brittain was the Tigers' third scorer with a 44-43--87 and Evan Heiser was the fourth scorer with 42-48--90. Those scores gave the Tigers a four-man score of 348. Coffeyville, with three top-10 scorers, was the tournament winner at 334. Pittsburg followed one stroke behind with Chanute third at 340.

Blake Cowen shot 54-56--110 and Baker Weilert shot 56-56--112 for the Tigers.

Pittsburg's Jon Nichols won the individual title with his 36-40--76. Labette County's Caleb Sparks followed at 40-38--78 and Chanute's Mitch Hale was third at 40-39--79.

League team standings have Coffeyville on top after two tournaments 12 strokes ahead of Pittsburg and 16 up on Chanute. Individually, Hale is two strokes ahead of Nichols and Pittsburg's Andrew Joy, who are tied for second.

Team Scores

1. Coffeyville (CF) 334 (Yeubanks 80, Watts 83, Vacca 83, Morrell 89), 2. Pittsburg (PT) 335 (Nichols 76, Joy 80, Buckner 85, Hudiberg 94), 3. Chanute (CH) 340 (Hale 79, Wiltse 84, Miner 87, Rickabaugh 90),

4. Fort Scott (FS) 348 (Beckham 83, Stark 86, Brittain 87, Heiser 90), 5. Labette County (LC) 350 (Sparks 78, Schulze 87, Shearhart 89, Vitt 96), 6. Independence (IN) 351 (Botts 85, Leiker 85, Webster 89, Strycker 92),

7. Parsons (Borovetz 86, Hays 89, Housr 93, Leech 98), 8. Iola 400 (Stewart 97, Collins 99, Mosbrocker 100, Crawford 104), 9. Columbus 406 (Wary 94, Torcia 102, Stover 105, Wilson 105).

Individuals

1. Jon Nichols, PT, 36-40--87; 2. Caleb Sparks, LC, 40-38--78; 3. Mitch Hale, CH, 40-39--79; 4. Andrew Joy, PT, 37-43--80; 5. Brett Yeubanks, CF, 38-42--80;

6. Tyler Watts, CF, 39-43--82; 7. Tanner Beckham, FS, 41-42--83; 8. Luke Vacca, CF, 45-38--83; 9. Cameron Wiltse, CH, 41-43--84; 10. Levi Lieker, IN, 44-41--85.