Lady Raiders, Mustangs win District 5 Large
CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Cleveland’s Rheagan Hall made it known last year that one of her goals as a high school golfer was to qualify for the state tournament every year. Thanks to another of her goals being met Monday at Cleveland Country Club, she’ll get the opportunity next Monday to qualify for the Class Large state tournament.
Hall was the medalist in the District 5 tournament, and she and Ellie Mills’ combined 175 made the Lady Raiders the tournament champions.
“It means a lot to me,” Hall said of the team title and the effort put forth by Mills and Cleveland’s other entrant, Emma Crouch. “It’s my senior year and that was one of my goals. The team came together. I’ve been working toward this since my freshman year.
Walker Valley (188) and Sequoyah (191) are the other District 5 girls’ teams moving on to the Region 3 tournament, which will be held at The Bear Trace at Cumberland Mountain. Team winners there will move on to the state tournament, along with the top three finishing boys and girls not on those teams.
Hall shot 79 on Monday but expected better.
“I hit the ball really bad,” she said. “My chipping and putting was what kept my score what it is.”
Walker Valley’s Whitney Kincaid finished second, 11 shots back of Hall. Lauren Baker, who joined Bradley Central teammates Cuppie Kyle and Bridger Yowarsky as individual region qualifiers, was third. Sequoyah’s Macy Moses was fourth and Mills wound up fifth.
Walker Valley’s Cade Puryear, whose round began with a birdie followed by seven consecutive pars, was the boys’ medalist. He defeated good friend and teammate Parker Gray on the first playoff hole after both shot 75s.
“We were both going to be happy either way because we won the team championship,” Puryear said.
The Mustangs’ 309 was 28
strokes better than runner-up Bradley Central and 37 ahead of third-place Cleveland. All advance to the region, along with five individual qualifiers led by third-place finisher Nicholas Thompson (76) from McMinn County.
East Hamilton’s Miller Wick (78), another region qualifier, earned fourth place on the third hole of a playoff with Walker Valley’s Dalton Sutton, who rounded out the top five. The other individual region qualifiers were McMinn County’s Dodj Watson, East Hamilton’s Matthew Ott and Sequoyah’s J.T. McDaniel.
› District 6 Large: At The Bear Trace at Cumberland Mountain, the teams comprising the other half of the Region 3 tournament were led by Cumberland County’s boys (308) and White County’s girls (183).
Jessica Kirklen’s and Madeline McNeal’s combined scores allowed Soddy-Daisy’s girls to qualify for the region by finishing third. Hixson’s Madelyn Standford qualified as an individual.
Boys’ individual region qualifiers included Soddy-Daisy’s Zane Penney and Hixson’s Bruce Wilson and Jared Thomas.
› Region 3 Small: At Chatata Valley, Signal Mountain took three of the top four honors.
Lindsey Hollis was the girls’ medalist with a 78, and with teammate and runner-up Taylor Gardner shooting 79, the Lady Eagles were the team champions, which puts them in the state tournament Sept. 26-27 at WillowBrook. The Signal boys also will be going after totaling 306, paced by individual runner-up Foster Wood’s 73 and Ben Seay’s third-place 76.
McMinn Central’s John Houk was the boys’ medalist with a 69 and teammate Seth Ward (77) is also a state qualifier. The other is Polk County’s Garrett Jones (77).
The girls’ individual state qualifiers are Sale Creek sisters Hannah and Ashley Holland, who finished third and fourth individually, and McMinn Central’s Emily Wilson.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.