Golf finishes third at Coffeyville

COFFEYVILLE -- A challenging layout at Coffeyville's home course may have hurt the effort of Fort Scott High's golf team a bit here Tuesday as the Tigers finished in third place behind Pittsburg and Chanute.

The Tigers shot 339 as a team while champion Pittsburg shot 324 and runner-up Chanute came in at 334.

"I thought the kids competed well at a tough golf course, one totally different to our previous experience," Fort Scott head coach Ken Klassen said. "The course's challenging layout and large, undulating greens combined to be a great test of golf skill."

Chris Brown and Paul Norris were Fort Scott's medalists. Brown shot 37 on the front nine and 40 on the back to finish with a 77 and fifth place. Norris came in seventh with his 37-46--83.

"Chris, for the most part, played well enough to win but finished two strokes back of the winner," Klassen said. "Paul continued his solid play. He was only one stroke back of the leaders on his front nine but had a difficult time on his closing nine."

Dylan Renfro scored 40-48--88 and Evan Heiser carded a 43-48--91 to round out the scores that counted toward the Tigers' team score. Tanner Beckham shot 44-48--92 and Nolan Stark came in at 44-51--95.

Cole Murrin has missed the last two meets with a knee injury and could miss a few more meets.

"Without Cole, we're a bit stretched," Klassen said. "No pun intended on Cole, but we are competing as well as we can and trying to prepare ourselves for the (Class 4A) Regional Tournament three weeks away."

The Tigers' next tournament is scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday at Chanute.

Tuesday's meet was not one of the four designated Southeast Kansas League tournaments. Positions in the league did not change as a result.

1. Pittsburg (PT) 324 (Williams 75, J.Nichols 76, Orscheln 86, T.Nichols 87), 2. Chanute (CH) 334 (Hale 76, Gant 78, Hudson 88, Minor 94), 3. Fort Scott (FS) 339 (Brown 77, Norris 83, Renfro 88, Heiser 91),

4. Parsons (PA) 353 (Walters 86, Heenan 89, Darkis 89, Thomas 89), 5. Iola (IO) 354 (C.Ellis 85, A.Ellis 88, Walden 90, Ivy 91), 6. Independence (IN) 354 (Botts 86, Goad 87, Webster 90, Berberick 91),

7. Coffeyville (CF) 364 (Vacca 80, Yeubanks 90, Watts 97, Hurlbutt 97), 8. Labette County 390 (Carter 94, Fentress 96, Boss 98, Arb 102), 9. Columbus (CL) 418 (Schoech 85, Kitch 94, Beech 115, Norris 124),

10. Girard 437 (McNier 106, Callaway 109, Simmons 110, Paige 112).

1. Landon Williams, PT, 37-38--75; 2 (tie). Mitchell Hale, CH, 38-40--78; Jon Nichols, PT, 37-39--78; and Jeremy Gant, CH, 37-39--78; 5. Chris Brown, FS, 37-40--77;

6. Luke Vacca, CF, 37-43--80; 7. Paul Norris, FS, 37-46--83; 8 (tie). Andrew Schoech, CL, 40-45--85; and Chase Ellis, IO, 41-44Z--85; 10 (tie). Spencer Orscheln, PT, 42-44--86; Kel Walters, PA, 42-44--86; and Peyton Botts, IN, 42-44--86