Sweet Home’s boys finished their golf season by placing 11th at the state tournament, while Haley May finished tied for 12th in the girls championships.
“We didn’t play horrible, we didn’t play great,” was Coach Pat Davis’ summation of the May 15-16 tournaments, the boys at the Eagle Crest Ridge Course in Redmond and the the girls at Quail Valley in Banks.
May, a senior, shot 89-86 to move up three spots between Monday and Tuesday and tie with Sasha Keown of Heppner/Ione at 175.
It wasn’t the top-10 finish she and Davis were hoping for, he said, but May had fun – one girl in her group go an ace on Monday, and May reached one personal goal by beating her friend, Maya Hatton of Taft for the first time ever in a round.
Hatton finished 85-87-172, well behind the top finisher from District 2, Katie Goodwin of Salem Academy/Blanchet Catholic, who shot an 8-over 79-80-159.
Freshman Baylee Hammericksen of St. Mary’s was the girls individual champion, with a two-under-par 70-72-142, leading St. Mary’s to the team title, which wasn’t a big challenge since three St. Mary’s players finished in the top five.
For Sweet Home’s boys, freshman Brayden Keesee was the top finisher, inidividually, shooting 85-94-179 to place 34th.
Senior Jake Hindmarsh finished two places back, at 36th, with a 89-92-181.
Senior Seth Wright was the Huskies’ third man, shooting 105-105 and sophomore Carson Smith was fourth, with 112-98. Freshman Christopher May was the Huskies’ fifth player, whose score didn’t county in the team total.
The Huskies finished with a team score of 380-389-768, about 100 shots higher than they needed to be to contend for a trophy. Valley Catholic won the team title, with 630.
Klamath Union’s Craig Ronne was the boys individual champion, shooting a 10-under 68-66-134.
“We’ll be seeing him playing on Sundays,” Davis predicted. “Ronne is an off-the-charts putter. He can get himself out of trouble.”
He said the Huskies’ Hindmarsh was playing with Ronne on the first hole on Monday.
“The other three guys all sprayed their drives. Ronne hit an iron or hybrid and went left into the trees. He saved par. Jake piped his down the middle and ended up three-putting for a bogey.”
The Huskies played well on some tough holes, but let some of the easier ones get away, he said.
“We didn’t play horrible, but we didn’t play great,” Davis said. “We were hoping to be lower, maybe 360. There were some good teams there. There were some really difficult holes. It was a tough course.
“But one of our goals going into the year was to get to state. I’m very proud of our guys, very excited for them. We were the youngest team there, by far, with two freshmen and a sophomore. A couple of other teams had a freshman or a sophomore.”
The loss of Hindmarsh will be big, as he’s been the team’s No. 1 player for most of the last three years.
“He’s always been kind of a fun influence,” Davis said. “We’re going to miss having Jake around.”