Fields set for state golf tournaments; Caldera girls qualify as a team

Published 4:15 pm Wednesday, May 8, 2024

District and regional tournaments have finished and the fields for the state golf tournaments have been set.

Next Monday and Tuesday, the state’s top high school golfers and golf teams will play their two-day, 36-hole state tournaments.

Seven Central Oregon golf teams qualified for state, as did 10 individuals.

The Summit boys and girls golf teams already secured a spot at the 5A state tournaments by winning Intermountain Conference team titles last week.

Mountain View’s Brayden Kussman and James Zachary qualified as individuals for the boys tournament, as did Ridgeview’s Mya Oakes and Redmond’s Payton Richardson for the girls tournament.

The 5A state field got its final qualifiers this week in the regional rounds at Aspen Lakes Golf Course in Sisters.

The Caldera girls team — Anna Latimer, Sophia Padre, Payten Bliss, Penelope Schaan and Kendall McFarland — qualified with a second-place finish at the at-large regional tournament (between the Northwest Oregon Conference and the Intermountain Conference) at Aspen Lakes.

Ridgeview’s Sara Fretz and Bend High’s Taylor Wirth also qualified for state as individuals.

One IMC team and four individuals punched their tickets to the state tournament as individuals at the boys regional tournament, also at Aspen Lakes.

Ridgeview’s team — Stephen Chapman, Kabir Gurm, Chance Larson, Drew Muilenburg and Zach Asplund — qualified with a second-place team finish. Mountain View’s Corbin Bittner and Grayson Moore join teammates Kussman and Zachary at state, while Bend’s Silas Waller and Trevor Lothrop earned qualifying individual marks as well.

The 5A boys state tournament will be played at Quail Valley Golf Club in Banks, northwest of Portland, while the girls tournament will be held at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis.

With three top-10 finishers at the 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 1 girls golf tournament at Quail Valley Golf Club on Monday, the Crook County girls golf team claimed a district team title.

The Cowgirls were led by fourth-place finisher Merritt O’Gorman (100-89—189), sixth-place fisher Haylee Noland (101-89— 190) and ninth-place finisher Sawyer McDonald (100-96—196) to finish with a combined score of 788, 28 strokes ahead of second-place Banks.

Aspen Gunderson and Paisley Wood will join O’Gorman, Noland and McDonald as Crook County tries to repeat as 4A/3A/2A/1A state champions at Tokatee Golf Club in McKenzie Bridge.

La Pine had a pair of golfers qualify for the 3A state tournament as individuals.

Hailey and Kylee Smith finished third and fourth respectively at the Special District 2 championships at Salishan Golf Links in Lincoln City on Monday.

The Crook County boys — Alex Iverson, Beau Parker, Brit Iverson, Codey Ortiz and Zach Nash — qualified for the 4A state tournament at Emerald Valley Golf Club in Creswell.

The Trinity Lutheran boys team — Elijah Spitler, Eugene Kent, Isaac Feeney, Jackson Carroll and Josiah Welch — qualified for the 3A/2A/1A boys tournament, which will also be held at Emerald Valley.

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