Tiger golfers open season with four medals

IOLA -- Fort Scott High School's varsity golf team opened the season with a second-place finish and four individual medals at the Iola Invitational here Tuesday.

Although the Tigers finished only behind rival Chanute, the defending Southeast Kansas League champion, Fort Scott head coach Ken Klassen described it as a "rough outing." The margin may have been why he chose those words as Chanute shot 324 as a team -- Blue Comets took three of the top four spots -- while the Tigers shot 343.

"All (of us) can and will do better as the season progresses," Klassen said. "We have had less practice this season than usual. As expected, Chanute was strong."

Chanute's Jeremy Gant was the individual winner as he shot 35 on the front nine and 38 on the back for a total of 73. His teammate, Mitchell Hale, was second at 38-38--76.

Cole Murrin was Fort Scott's leading golfer with a third-place showing of 42-37--79.

There was a three-way tie with identical scores of 45-41--86. Handicap-hole tie-breakers placed Chanute's Jarren Gard fourth, Iola's Seth Walden fifth and Fort Scott's Tanner Beckham sixth.

Fort Scott's Dylan Renfro carded a score of 44-44--88 to finish in seventh place. Chanute's Hunter Hudson was eighth at 45-44--89. Fort Scott's Evan Heiser (48-42) won a handicap-hole tie-breaker to place ninth after tying with Iola's Chase Ellis (45-45) with a score of 90.

Just missing out on medals were Nolan Stark (49-42) and Paul Norris (43-48), each of whom finished with scores of 91.

"Cole should be able to compete with Jeremy Gant," Klassen said. he will try again (today) at Independence.

"I was pleased that none of the guys posted a really large score, and especially happy with Tanner Beckham's score. Tanner is capable of some really good golf. He just has to work hard to become more consistent. Evan Heiser, I think, earned his first varsity medal, something of which he should be duly proud. All in all, four medalists is something to be proud of."

The Tigers will travel to Independence today to make-up the meet that was originally going to open the season last week. Play begins at 3 p.m.

Team scores

1. Chanute (CH) 324 (Gant 73, Hale 76, Gard 86, Hudson 89), 2. Fort Scott (FS) 343 (Murrin 76, Beckham 86, Renfro 88, Heiser 90), 3. Iola (IO) 360 (Walden 86, C. Ellis 90, A.Ellis 91, Peterson 93),

4. Coffeyville 406 (Stansbury 91, Hurlbutt 100, Smart 107, Patrycont 108), 5. Labette County 469 (Folk 12, Vitt 115, Gero 118, Camahan 124),

6. Columbus 474 (Schoech 99, Beech 120, Norris 122, Hallam 143)

Medalists

1. Jeremy Gant, CH, 35-38--73; 2. Mitchell Hale, CH, 3-38--76; 3. Cole Murrin, FS, 42-37--79; 4. Jarren Gard, CH, 45-41--86; 5. Seth Walden, IO, 45-41--86;

6. Tanner Beckham, FS, 41-41--86; 7. Dylan Renfro, FS, 44-44--88; 8. Hunter Hudson, CH, 45-44--89; 9. Evan Heiser, FS, 48-42--90; 10. Chase Ellis, IO, 45-45--90.

JUNIOR VARSITY -- The junior varsity team played Tuesday at Girard and finished third with a team score of 216 over nine holes. Pittsburg Colgan won the team title with a 199 followed by Parsons at 208. Girard was fourth at 217.

Individually, Zach White finished sixth with a 50 and Andy Gant was seventh with a 51. Lyle Brittan shot 57 as he finished in a tie for 17th. Garret Rash scored a 58, Jordan Neilson a 59 and Blake Cowen a 62.

The next scheduled event for the JV is April 16 at Jayhawk-Linn.