Eagles sending three to State

FREDONIA -- Despite playing in terrible weather conditions, three members of Uniontown's golf team qualified for State from the Fredonia Class 3-2-1A Regional Tournament, played here Monday.

While other tournaments -- including a Class 4A Regional less than 60 miles to the south in Coffeyville -- were postponed, they forged on in Fredonia with two inches of rain falling during play.

"Conditions were brutal yesterday for everyone," Eagle head coach Jason Tourtillott said. "I'm proud of our girls for hanging in there and doing the best they could with that they had to work with. I felt bad watching the girls struggle and slop around course but our only option was to finish and try to give ourselves a chance to play again on a warm, dry day and we were able to accomplish that."

The scores produced by the golfers and the teams reflect this. A score of 91 won the tournament and there was only one other scores of fewer than 100 strokes. There were only six more scores under 110.

Despite that, Kyley Brown, Kaylyn Crystal and Laryn Thompson all qualified for State individually. Every member of the top three-finishing teams qualifies automatically. Then the top five golfers from schools which did not automatically qualify also go to State.

Brown, a junior, was second-best of those five, shooting 71 on the front nine and 75 on the back for a total of 146 as she finished 16th overall. Sophomore Kaylyn Crystal shot 76-71--147 in finishing 17th. And freshman Laryn Thompson shot 82-82--164 as she finished 20th. Junior Draven George finished her season with a 72-98--170.

The tournament winner was Eureka sophomore Ragean Boone, who shot 46-45--91. Caney Valley golfers took the next four spots.

The qualifying teams were Caney Valley with a four-woman score of 394. Eureka followed at 430 and Fredonia qualified for State with a 567. Uniontown finished at 627, fourth among the schools which brought enough golfers to qualify for team scoring.

The Class 3-2-1A State Tournament will take place Monday at Emporia.

Team scores

1. Caney Valley (CV) 394 (Wyant 93, Gardner 100, Hefley 100, Nelson 101), 2. Eureka (EU) 430 (Boone 91, Birkholz 105, J.Torrey 117, Jes. Moffatt 11), 3. Fredonia (FR) 567 (Cox 106, Comstock 130, Morris 161, Nelsen 170),

4. Uniontown (U) 627 (Brown 146, Crystal 147, Thompson 164, George 170).

Incomplete teams: Colgan, Galena (G), Yates Center (YC).

Individuals

Medalsts

1. Reagan Boone, EU, 46-45--91; 2. Kelsey Wyant, CV, 41-52--93; 3. Ashlyn Hefley, CV, 51-49--100; 4. Cortney Gardner, CV, 50-50--100; 5. Desiree Nelson, CV, 50-51--101;

6. Chandler Birkholz, EU, 54-51--105; 7. Torie Cox, FR, 54-52--106; 8. Jayd Bentley, CV, 58-55--113; 9. Paige Price, CV, 57-59--116; 10 (tie). Jennifer Torrey, EU, 55-62--117; and Jessica Moffatt, EU, 56-61--117.

State qualifiers from

non-qualifying teams

15. Keia Cox, G, 64-68--132; 16. Kyley Brown, U, 71-75--146; 17. Kaylyn Crystal, U, 76-71--147; 18. Makayla Jones, YC, 74-79--153; 20. Laryn Thompson, U, 82-82--164.