AHSAA GOLF: Trinity girls, Pike Road girls win state titles
Trinity’s girls’ golf team won the Class 4A-5A state championship at the RTJ Grand National course on Tuesday. (Contributed)
By TIM GAYLE
OPELIKA – Virginia Ann Holmes finished her high school career on top, shooting a two-under 70 to earn low medalist honors and lead the Trinity girls to the Class 4A-5A championship in the 74th AHSAA state golf tournament at RTJ Grand National on Tuesday.
The Trinity boys’ team closed the gap but could not overtake first-day leader Westbrook Christian and finished second in the 3A championship.
“I’m super proud of the girls,” Trinity coach Tim Bethea said. “I’m proud of the boys, too, but you win a championship, that’s pretty special. I thought the boys had a good chance, but we just didn’t have a good day on Monday. Thy fought back and finished as runners-up and that was good for them, they’re a young team.
“But the girls have done an about face from the beginning of the year and gotten so much better. To end up winning a state championship is special for them. Our first tournament, we shot 278. Today, we shot 239. And Virginia Ann, her last three rounds in high school were 66, 69 and 70. That’s pretty special.”
Trinity competes in 3A as a boys golf team but last year’s second-place finish for the girls elevated the girls team to 4A-5A as part of the AHSAA’s Competitive Balance Factor.
Inclement weather delayed the conclusion of boys’ competition in 6A, 4A and 1A-2A.
In the girls division, Grissom won 7A, Pike Road won 6A, Trinity won 4A-5A and Tuscaloosa Academy won 1A-3A.
Holmes shot a 69 on the first day and a 70 on the second to run away with low medalist honors as the senior’s 139 was 11 strokes ahead of runner-up Elle Cothran of Cherokee County.
“I’m not just going to miss her scores, I’m going to miss her,” Bethea said of Holmes. “She’s been playing golf for me since the seventh grade. She’s a talented young lady and works really hard to use that talent to glorify the Lord. We shed a lot of tears today. It was a fun way to end her career.”
Savannah Sandlin of Oneonta was third with a 158, followed by Northside’s Ashlee Allen at 159 and Beauregard’s Kaylee Lynn with a 160.
As a team, Trinity shot a 242 on the first day and a 240 on the second to finish with a two-day total of 482. Two-time defending state champion Mars Hill Bible was second with a 507, followed by Northside with a 538 and Alexandria with a 583.
What makes Trinity’s championship run even more remarkable is the Wildcats played with just three players. Twelve of the 16 teams in the girls division played with four players, dropping the highest score. Two of the four teams with just three players were in 4A-5A, Alexandria and Trinity.
Eden Pendleton was second behind Holmes (and eighth overall) with a 166, while Marley Smith was third with a 176, shooting career-low scores on Monday (86) and Tuesday (90).
“Last year was the first time she ever played 18 holes,” Bethea said of Smith, another senior. “And my 10th grader, Eden, shot a 79 today and that’s her best round in high school competition. (Mars Hill) is a good team. We felt like we were going to have to play our best golf to beat them and that’s pretty much what we did.”
Pike Road’s Yvette Gorden finished second behind Hartselle’s Jinger Heath as the low medalist, but that was enough to propel the Patriots to a nine-stroke victory over Spanish Fort, 455 to 464.
In the boys division, Vestavia Hills won 7A, Randolph won 5A and Westbrook Christian won 3A.
Westbrook Christian shot a 329 on the first day to take a 15-stroke lead over the Wildcats. Trinity shave three strokes off of the lead on Tuesday, but a 668 still trailed Westbrook Christian’s 656 by 12 strokes.
Opp finished third with a 703, followed by Lauderdale County with a 709.
Westbrook Christian’s Eli Edge shot a 75 on Monday and a 76 on Tuesday to win low medalist honors with a 151. Weaver’s Nick Ledbetter was second with a 159, followed by Westbrook Christian’s Cove McHugh at 161 and the Trinity duo of eighth grader Whit Bixenman and senior Dawson Criswell who were tied for fourth at 163.
For Criswell, the finish wasn’t quite the storybook ending he had hoped for, but was still impressive after sustaining a pair of knee injuries in consecutive summers that kept him out of football and slowed his return to the golf course as a junior and senior.
“He’s been through a lot of stuff the last two years, not getting to show his talents,” Bethea said. “For him to be on a 3A state runner-up golf team, I was really happy for him.”
Finishing behind Bixenman and Criswell for the Wildcats were Jackson McIntyre (170), Thomas Stewart (174) and Mac Stewart (176).