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Dragons take top 4 spots, team title
Pittsburg claimed the top four spots and the individual title at the Fort Scott Golf Invitational at the Fort Scott Golf Course and Country Club Tuesday.
All six Purple Dragon entrants medaled as Pittsburg scored 320 as a team to finish 48 strokes ahead of Independence.
Fort Scott, after head coach Ken Klassen had to field a varsity team missing three of its usual players, finished ninth in team standings with a 423, ahead of only its own junior varsity. Because current FSHS guidelines stipulate that a first violation of school rules results in a three-event suspension, the three suspended players won't be eligible to compete in Monday's Class 4A Regional Tournament at Anderson County.
All six of the players who filled out the varsity lineup had played at least once on varsity prior to this tournament and four of them recorded their best varsity scores.
"The kids came out and gave it their best," Klassen said. "Some of them had their best scores and everyone did the best they could under the conditions."
The FSGC&CC crew had to work hard to get the course ready for the tournament after Monday's storms. They were able to play on the original nine holes, so each player toured those holes twice.
"I'd like to thank the crew here for doing a great job," Klassen said. "And thanks need to go to the boosters and parents who helped out."
Lyle Brittain moved up from No. 4 in the Tiger lineup into the No. 1 spot. He led the Tigers with a total of 102 -- 53 the first time through and 49 the second time around.
Baker Weilert played in third tournament of the season and shot a varsity-best 52-52--104. Garrett Rash, playing in his third varsity tourney as well, shot a varsity-best 53-55--108. The four-man team total was rounded out by Blake Cowen's 51-58--109.
Craig Davenport played varsity for the fourth time this season and a varsity-best 57-54--111. Jordan Nielson played varsity for the first time since the season-opening tournament at Independence and improved that day's total by 11 strokes as he finished at 53-65--118.
Seven fellow Tigers played as the junior varsity team. Tyler Clifton led that pack with a 58-50--108. Garrett Baugher was next at 63-51--114, then Jonathan Hightower 61-61--122, Grant Stucky 60-64--124, Reed Ramsey 77-65--142 and Matt Gaborie 80-71--151. Eddie Harryman started the tournament but had to withdraw due to a back injury.
The top four finishers in the tournament were Jon Nichols, 36-41--77; Andrew Joy, 37-42--79; Johnny Randall, 43-39--82; and Michael Hudiburg, 41-41--82. In addition, Dragon teammates Nick Wuerdeman (43-44--87) and Ryan Buckner (43-45--88) finished seventh and ninth.
NOTES -- There was a mix of varsity and JV players in the tournament. For instance, Chanute sent mostly a JV team and finished eighth in the field. Parsons had a mix with Brock Borovetz, a member of the Viking varsity, finishing sixth....
Colgan took part in the tournament so they could become familiar with the course. The Panthers, who were third as a team with a score of 380, will be playing here Monday in Uniontown's Class 2-1A Regional Tournament. Adam Barnes finished fifth for Colgan at 40-45--85, winning a scorecard playoff with Borovetz, who had the exact same score....
The Chanute Tournament, originally scheduled for Monday with Fort Scott as one of the teams, has been rescheduled for Friday but the Tigers will not participate....
Independence had a girl, Taylor Smith, taking part. Although girls' golf is a league sport, Indy doesn't field a girls' team....
1. Pittsburg (PT) 320 (Nichols 77, Joy 79, Hudiburg 82, Randall 82)
2. Independence (IN) 368 (Dreger 87, White 92, Smith 93, Strickler 96)
3. Colgan (CG) 380 (Barnes 85, Farmer 98, Humble 98, Mitchelson 99)
4. Iola 393 (Stewart 94, Jacobs 95, Shallah 102, Smith 102)
5. Parsons (PA) 394 (Borovetz 85, Hoose 96, Hays 105, Oliva 108)
6. Columbus 396 (Wilson 91, Weary 101, Torchia 102, Stover 102)
7. Coffeyville (CF) 402 (Blaich 88, Cordray 99, Wright 107, Hendrix 108)
8. Chanute 419 (Marsh 98, DeLaPena 106, Carmanyo 107, Krenzel 108)
9. Fort Scott 423 (Brittain 102, Weilert 104, Rash 108, Cowen 109_
10. Fort Scott JV 468 (Clifton 108, Baugher 114, Hightower 122, Stucky 124)
1. Jon Nichols, PT, 36-41--77
2. Andrew Joy, PT, 37-42--79
3. Johnny Randall, PT, 43-39--82
4. Michael Hudiburg, PT, 41-41--82
5. Adam Barnes, CG, 40-45--85
6. Brock Borovetz, PA, 40-45--85
7. Tyler Dreger, IN, 45-42--87
8. Nick Wuerdeman, PT, 43-44--87
9. Ryan Buckner, PT, 43-45--85
10. Kenton Blaich, CF, 43-45--88.