by Clarke Davis
Six Jefferson West High School golfers earned a trip to state over the weekend and placed 10th as a team.
Twelve teams out of 64 4A schools qualified for the tournament held at the Stagg Hill Golf Club in Manhattan.
“We were very proud to represent our school and league at state,” Deiter said.
It was the first trip to state in four years for the boys and the first time for this young team.
“We wanted to finish somewhere in the middle and after nine holes we were in seventh place,” said coach Larry Deiter. “But a couple of mistakes in the back nine proved to be too much to overcome and we finished in 10th place.”
While the coach said they were a little disappointed, he noted there were no seniors on the team and the boys are already looking forward to next year.
Freshman Cass Steele shot the low round for the Tigers with a score of 84. Junior Matt Debus shot an 85 followed by a pair of 86s by sophomores Alex Baker and Adam Fechter.
The lowest four scores out of the six-man team determines the team score, giving the Tigers a 341 score.
“Our team goal was to shoot between 320 and 330. A couple of bad holes kept us from reaching that goal,” Deiter said. “Four scores in the 80s was still good.”
“It was a great experience and we had a great time,” said junior Tanner Crawford. “It was just awesome.”
This season the varsity team placed first at invitationals at Northeran Heights, Osage City, Santa Fe Trail, St. Marys, and Perry-Lecompton. The Tigers also placed first at the Royal Valley quad and second at the Maur Hill quad.
The Tigers finished third in the Big 7 League and took second in the Regionals.
Letterwinners not going to state are juniors Tyler Sands, Chase Farrant, and Michael Zeik, sophomores Sam DeMaranville and Stephen Goodrick, and freshmen Riley Farrant, Mark Flood, and Michael West.
The junior varsity golf team racked up a bunch of trophies as well this season, taking first place at their own and the Horton invitationals and first place at quads at Royal Valley, Maur Hill, Oskaloosa, and Jefferson West. They also captured first in the JV league.
Junior varsity golfers are Casey Murdie, a junior, and freshmen Brent Broxterman, Sam Real, Caleb Riley, Logan Shenk, and Mitch Stansell.
The JV coach is Wes Sturgeon.
