A Look At The Links: District Champs Crowned

It was a beautiful sunny day at the Preston Country Club last Wednesday for the district championships.  The expectations and anticipation were high for our local sharp shooters.  Some of the results came out as expected while some were somewhat unexpected.  All season long the Soda Springs Lady Cardinals have dominated the district and were heavy favorites to win as a team going into the day.  Likewise the Grizzly men from Grace have led the district all season by a much smaller margin and would need to be perfect to maintain their streak.  As we all know sometimes the best laid plans can go awry. 

In the boys competition Grace has been pushed all season by the West Side Pirates and the Soda Springs Cardinals.  As things got underway in this tournament the Grizzlies seemed to be well on their way.  As each group wrapped up their round Grace was sitting in a good spot after the third group.  The Grizzlies top three golfers had grabbed three of the top five scores though the results had not yet been posted or made official.  It would all come down to the fourth group and what each of them could do for their respective teams.  When it all shook out the Grace Grizzlies were beaten by just three strokes by the Pirates in a mild upset.  Our other local team, the Soda Springs Cardinals finished in third place.  Luckily for the Grizzlies the top two teams qualified for the state tournament which meant, unfortunately, the Cardinals would be left home this year.  The Cardinals and the Pirates are both fairly young teams that should return several good golfers for next season.  The Grizzlies on the other hand are senior heavy making their future a little more unknown.  The veteran Grizzly team will get a shot at redemption at the state tournament that is taking place at the time of the writing of this article.

In the girls competition as mentioned the Lady Cardinals were the heavy favorites going into the district tournament.  The Lady Cardinals may have boasted the best overall team all season but the Lady Grizzlies have had the top two golfers in the district this year.  As the girls competition played out the tension grew.  In the last couple of weeks the Grizzlies had made some adjustments to their team to make a run at the district title and it seemed like those adjustments may just pay off.  Like the boys as each group wrapped up their day it became clear that it would come down to the number four golfer for each team.  The ladies put on quite a show with seven of the top eight scores coming from our two Caribou County teams.  In the end it was the Soda Springs Lady Cardinals that were crowned the district champs, outshooting the Lady Grizzlies by a narrow four shots.  More good news for the Lady Cardinals is that they are very young and should be the favorites to take home the title once again next season.  Both teams still qualified for state where they no doubt will give us some more thrills. 

With both their boys and girls teams having to settle for second place the Grizzlies enjoyed some consolation with Kamryn Mansfield and Jamie Smith each winning individual district championships with their teammates Karlie Christensen and Tate Williams each coming in a close second.

The state tournament took place earlier this week on Monday and Tuesday in Burly.  Check back next week to see how the local kids did in their final tournament of the season.

Soda Springs Girls Results

Team Score 381

Tara Vedder 85

Jayden Parker 88

Jasta Stoor 99

Kale Hopkins 109

Jocee Tingey 110

Soda Springs Boys Results

Team Score 369

Kayden Petersen 87

Preston Ozburn 89

Brycen Petersen 92

Eli Byrum 101

Chase Jacobsen 102

Grace Girls Results

Team Score 385

Kamryn Mansfield 75

Karlie Christensen 77

Shaston Lloyd 105

Tessica Jorgensen 128

Evie Olenslager 135

Grace Boys Results

Team Score 342

Jamie Smith 77

Tate Williams 79

Keathen Edwards 83

Derek Hill 103

Cort Spencer 140