— File Photo
East Linn Christian’s boys won their first-ever OSAA trophy in golf last week, finishing fourth out of 12 teams in the 3A/2A/1A State Golf Tournament May 17-18 at Tokatee Golf Club in Blue River.
The Eagles shot 345-338 over the two days to finish with 683. Bandon won the team title (312-309-621), followed by Banks (321-331-652), Valley Catholic (340-331-671), ELCA, and Blanchet (337-356-693) and Trinity Lutheran (344-349-393), who tied for fifth.
“The guys really battled at Tokatee,” Coach Jayce Boyd said. “It was firm and fast and a bit unlike anything else we played all year. Not a single golfer quit on their process and swing at any point in their round and we are really proud of them for that.
“We beat Blanchet for the first time in probably close to 20 years at a tournament that matters. I’m not sure if they see us as a rival, but we sure see them as one.”
His players, all sophomores, “all had great attitudes and represented Christ well to their competitors, too, which is the most important part for us as a team,” Boyd said.
Grady Knurowski led the Eagles with a seventh-place individual finish, shooting a 4-over 76 on both days to score 152.
Dailey Kirkpatrick shot 90-86-176 to finish 34th, Wyatt Smothers was 39th (90-89-179), and Liam Medford finished 44th (89-93-182).
Parker Caddick shot a 100 on the first day, and was replaced by Anderson Kropf, who shot 87 on Day 2.
“We had a score cap for our golfers at state and Parker had a rough day and exceeded it, so we put Anderson in there to give him a shot and it paid off,” Boyd explained. “He played really well and showed a lot of grit over those 18 holes. Hopefully, it lights a fire in both of them to play a lot and improve this summer.”
Sevren Quinn of Bandon was the individual champion, shooting 3-under 71-70-141.
See the Eagles in action…
