Lady Cats third, Wildcats fourth in golf tournament

Lakeside, Sheridan claim boys, girls championships

El Dorado’s golf teams opened the 2018 season Monday by hosting the 23rd Simmons Bank Wildcat Invitational Golf Tournament at the El Dorado Golf & Country Club.

The Lady Wildcats finished third with a score of 313, while the Wildcats wound up fourth with a team score of 349.

Gabrien Parker had a 98 to lead the Lady Wildcats.

Claire Van Sickle finished with a score of 103 and Aubrey Marx shot 112 to round out the Lady Wildcats.

Shaun York led the Wildcats with a 79, finishing five strokes behind Bryant’s Clayton Harbour in the race for medalist honors.

“He ran into a couple of bad holes that changed his score, but he played pretty well most of the day,” said El Dorado coach Chris Ezell.

Brendan Jones was next with an 87 for the Wildcats, while Preston Howard had an 89 and Aaron Ezell had a 94 to round out EHS.

“I was proud of the effort of my younger players,” Ezell said. “I thought they handled everything pretty well.”

The leaderboard behind Harbour was a crowded one with nine golfers finishing within five strokes of Harbour.

Benton’s Brendon Little and Hot Springs Lakeside’s Griffin Wuensch each shot 75 to finish one stroke behind Harbour.

Hot Springs Lakeside’s Carson Garner finished with a 76.

But thanks to Wuensch, Garner, Nathan Ahers (78) and Cooper Gordon (81), the Rams won the team title by two strokes over Bryant with a team score of 310, ending the Hornets’ run as the backto-back champions of the event.

The girls title was also close with 12 strokes separating the top three teams.

Sheridan won the title by three strokes over Harmony Grove with Emma Hester shooting an 80 to earn medalist honors.

Harmony Grove’s Sidney Pigott, the medalist from a year ago, was second with an 85.