Bad weather had been a way of life for the Emporia High golf team at its home tournaments this year. So why should Tuesday’s final tournament before Regionals have been any different?
The rain forced a late start at Emporia Municipal Golf Course, but several Spartans took advantage of the storm dying down later in the evening, lowering their scores on the back nine. The Emporia Red team finished third in the eight-team field with a score of 353, six strokes behind Seaman for second place. Zach Young medaled for the Spartans, shooting an 84 to tie St. Thomas Aquinas’ Parker Beck for fifth place.
“I wasn’t really necessarily worried about the place today as much as I was the scores,” EHS coach Rick Eckert said. “And I think scorewise, we’re back down to about 350, which is where we need to be going into Regionals next week.”
Young — who finished one stroke behind fourth-place finisher Max Frederes of Aquinas — started and ended his round inauspiciously. He posted a quadruple-bogey on the first hole.
“After that, I just felt like I got up and down, made some par putts and played pretty well except for the last two holes,” he said. “I went bogey-bogey. Other than that, I played pretty good for the weather.”
Young’s best shot, in his mind, came on 14, where a 150-yard drive gave him a 10-foot putt for birdie. But his subsequent putt was just short, and he had to settle for par. Young shot a 41 on the back nine after firing a 43 on the front side. He was one of five Spartans on the Emporia Red and Emporia Black teams to lower their score on the back nine — Craig Morgan and Larkin Bennett did so for Emporia Red, and Jared Schaefer, Tyler Agler and Justin Wilson were better on the back nine for Emporia Black.
“I think the rain slowing down (was a factor), and it actually dried out the greens a little bit,” Eckert said. “Yeah, once the rain stopped, the wind came up a little bit, the good thing was that dried out the greens a little bit, and just made it more playable today.”
Morgan shot an 87 for Emporia Red, just missing the cut for a medal by finishing in a tie for ninth. Caleb Chiroy shot an 88 to finish 15th, Austin Knight had a 94 and Bennett had a 103.
Emporia Black finished seventh as a team with a score of 407. Schaefer was the only Black-team golfer to break 100, shooting a 93 to tie for 19th place. Wilson had a 103, Agler had a 104, Zach Hill had a 107 and Nico Rodriguez shot a 129.
Aquinas won Tuesday’s tournament with a team score of 325, and the Saints also had the 2-3-4 individual finishers, with Joe Winslow and Daniel Trout tying for second, followed by Frederes. Seaman’s Kevin Burdiek was the individual champion, shooting a 79 to win the title by one stroke.
The Spartans tee off at the Seaman Regional at 8:30 a.m. Monday at Cypress Ridge Golf Course in Topeka. Along with EHS and Seaman, the Regional will include Gardner-Edgerton, Mill Valley, Shawnee Heights, Highland Park and Topeka West.
“To be honest, we’re going to have to shoot at least a 340 at Regionals to have a chance to go to State as a team,” Eckert said. “And I think we can do that. Again, it’s one of those things where we got three pretty good scores today; our top three played well. We need to get the bottom three guys to now start picking it up just a little bit. They don’t have to do a lot, just a little bit, and I think we’re gonna be in the hunt.”
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The South Lyon County golf team also competed Tuesday at EMGC, finishing in fifth place, and Tommy Smith earned a medal with his eighth-place finish.
Smith shot an 86, including a 40 on the back nine. Chad Schmidt shot a 92, Glen Haag carded a 95, Noah Haag fired a 97, Colby Gardner shot a 103 and John Roberts scored a 110. As a team, South Lyon County ended up with 370 points.
Tuesday at EMGC
Team scores
St. Thomas Aquinas 325, Seaman 347, Emporia Red 353, Hayden 360, South Lyon County 370, Manhattan 383, Emporia Black 407, Junction City 463.
Medalists
1. Burdiek, SEA, 78; T2. Winslow, STA, and Trout, STA, 79; 4. Frederes, STA, 83; T5. Young, EMPR, and Beck, STA, 84; 7. Coatney, STA, 85; 8. Smith, SLC, 86.
Other Emporia Red results
T9. Morgan, 87; 15. Chiroy, 88; T21. Knight, 94; T30. Bennett, 103.
Emporia Black results
19. Schaefer, 93; T30. Wilson, 103; T33. Agler, 104; T36. Hill, 107; T43. Rodriguez, 129.