El Dorado golf teams compete at Simmons Bank Wildcat Invitational golf tournament.

The heat index may have hovered around triple digits, but the extreme heat didn’t seem to slow down El Dorado’s golf teams, who each delivered second-place finishes at the 24th Simmons Bank Wildcat Invitational Golf Tournament at the El Dorado Golf & Country Club on Monday.

Preston Howard and Baylor Blackburn each shot 84 for the Wildcats, while Jon Brooks Elia and Brendan Jones both shot 87 for a team score of 342.

Hope Walthall, a freshman, shot 95 to pace the Lady Wildcats. Emma Gaul had a 100 and Aubrey Marx was next with a 101 to give El Dorado a team score of 296.

“For a lot of them, it was their first high school varsity match, so it was good to see that they were competitive, and most of them shot better rounds than what they were doing in practice,” El Dorado coach Chris Ezell said.

The heat also didn’t bother Hot Springs Lakeside’s Wil Griffin and Bryant’s Andrew Gaspard, who each shot 69 to force a playoff for medalist.

On hole No. 1, Griffin capped a terrific finish with a birdie to seal the victory.

“Just kept it in the fairway,” Griffin said of his round. “I didn’t make a whole lot of bogeys. I started off really solid with a bunch of pars and

finished eagle, birdie to get into the playoff and chipped in to win, so it was a great day.”

Maggie Huett made it a sweep of the medalists for Hot Springs Lakeside by firing a 78 to win the girls title.

“My front nine was bad, but my back nine was good,” Huett said. “My approach shots and my putting was good on the back.”

Maggie’s sister, Abbylea, was the medalist runner-up with an 84.

“My sister did good,” Huett said. “We’re both proud of each other.”

Griffin said staying cool and hydrated allowed him to beat the heat.

“I drank a bunch of water and tried to stay in the shade as much as I could,” Griffin said. “I ate pretty often.”

Ezell was impressed with the rounds posted by the field.

“On this course, it’s definitely one of the lowest scores,” Ezell said of Griffin and Gaspard’s rounds. “Definitely outstanding scores today, especially in this heat. We had several in the 70s as well throughout the field.

“Most visitors when they come to this course, the trees tend to catch them. This is a narrow course guarded by the big oak trees that are out here that knock the ball straight down. It’s a little different than a lot of courses they play that are open, and you can miss it over into another fairway and still have a shot back to the green.

“It does catch some of them off guard, especially when they come here the first time, but some of these kids are juniors and seniors that shoot these low scores that have been here for two or three years.”

With the Huett sisters leading the way, the Lady Rams, who are the defending 5A state champions, captured the girls title with a team score of 252.

“Lakeside came in with a very strong score, and that’s tough,” Ezell said. “Any time you’ve got girls shooting in the 70s and 80s, they’ll be tough moving forward in our conference.”

Although Gaspard fell just short in the race for medalist honors, Bryant walked away with their third boys title in the last four years with Daniel Taylor adding a 73, and Logan McDonald and Cameron McDonald each shooting 78 for a team score of 298.

As far as his teams are concerned, Ezell was pleased with their performance, and he is hoping they will be able to build off of it.

“I think starting out with the Simmons, when you have all these kids out here, it’s actually more pressure at the beginning than what you get in most matches,” Ezell said. “It puts you on a different stage with the crowd that’s following you hole by hole. There’s a lot more people on the course in general, so it puts them in the fire to see where they’re at and where we are. I was pleased with the balance.

“Even my JV kids were going to be there, and we’re going to see a lot of depth. There’s going to be a lot of movement around in the order just because they are so close to each other. I see a lot of battles throughout the season, which is good to have that competition.

“The first match for Hope Walthall, and she leads us with a 95. Emma Gaul had a 100 and Aubrey Marx had a 101, so those were all scores that improved from last year.”