Menu
All 4 Eagles going to State, but...
Uniontown will send all four members of its golf team to State next week in Cheney. But because an unusual tiebreaker was needed to see which team got the third team qualifying spot out of Monday's Class 3-2-1A Regional Tournament at Woodland Hills Golf Course, the Eagles won't be able to compete for a team score at State.
When Uniontown and Fredonia finished tied for third, each with a four-woman score of 530, the usual tie-breaker could not be applied because neither team had a fifth golfer to compare scores. And without a No. 6 golfer, either, a call had to be placed to the Kansas State High School Activities Association.
The solution: break the tie with the three best individual scores. And that gave Fredonia the third team berth by 9 strokes.
"That's the first time I've ever run into that, the problem where we had a tie for third and advance everyone on the team without getting to play as a team at State," Uniontown head coach Justin Tourtillott said. "We would have like to played as a team rather than individuals but that's the way it worked out."
The four Eagles -- Draven George, Laryn Thompson, Kaylyn Crystal and Megan Smith -- qualify for State as one of the five best scorers from teams that did not qualify the conventional way. The fifth golfer to get in was Galena's Grace Babbitt.
It was a very windy day at Woodland Hills and it affected everyone, especially when teeing off on holes that were perpendicular to the wind and watching the tee shot drift with the breeze.
The best score of the day was the winning 90 posted by Eureka's Raegan Boore and only four others finished under 100.
"When the best girls in our Regional were struggling, I knew our girls would have some trouble with the wind as well," Tourtillott said. "I think it did equalize it somewhat."
Boore shot 44 the first time around the course and 46 the second time as only the "old nine" was used. Jayd Bentley of Caney Valley won a playoff for second place over teammate Kelsey Wyant after both shot 95.
George finished 13th, shooting 58-65--123 and tying her personal best score over 18 holes. Thompson was 16th with her 132. Crystal was 17th with a 136 and Smith finished 18th at 139.
Defending State champ Caney Valley won the team title with a 365 with Eureka second at 389. There were only four complete teams out of the seven schools here.
Of the 22 competitors, 19 will be going to State next Monday at Cherry Oaks Golf Course in Cheney.
1. Caney Valley (CV) 365 (Wyant 95, Bentley 95, C.Gardner 96, Hefley 97, 2. Eureka (E) 389 (Boone 90, Moffat 104, Birkholz 109, J. Torrey 114), 3. Fredonia (F) 530 (Altis 116, Morris 129, Nelson 129, Hutton 156), 4. Uniontown (U) 530 (George 123, Thompson 132, Crystal 136, Smith 139).
Incomplete teams: Galena (G), Pittsburg Colgan, Yates Center.
NOTE: Neither Fredonia nor Uniontown had a fifth golfer to break the tie. The scores of each school's first three golfers broke the tie.
1. Reagan Boone, E, 90; 2. Jayd Bentley, CV, 95; 3. Kensey Wyant, CV, 95; 4. Courtney Gardner, CV, 96; 5. Ashlyn Hefley, CV, 97;
6. Kendra Gardner, CV, 102; 7. Jessica Moffat, E, 104; 8. Chandler Birkholz, E, 109; 9. Jennifer Torrey, E, 114; 10. Paige Price, CV, 114.
Individual qualifiers
13. Draven George, U, 123; 16. Laryn Thompson, U, 132; 17. Kaylyn Crystal, U, 136; 18. Megan Smith, U, 139; 19. Grace Babbitt, G, 143.