Three Tigers already qualify for state
Photo by Nick Ianniello St. Regis Junior Willy Roper tries to get his ball out of the bunker at the Missoula County Country Club during the Loyola Sacred Heart Invitational Golf Tournament Saturday. Roper scored a triple bogey on this hole.
The St. Regis Tigers golf team had two big days on the links this weekend, with several team members qualifying for state during the Loyola Sacred Heart High School Invitational in Missoula.
Three out of the five golfers St. Regis sent to the tournament managed to get qualifying scores for state this weekend during the team’s first tournament of the year. The team played Friday at Larchmont Golf Course and Saturday at the Missoula Country Club.
“For the first time around with them playing a different course with different putting greens, I’m pretty pleased with them,” head golf coach Dan Park said.
Newcomer to the team Lady Tiger Dallas Ward, a junior, beat the 18-hole, 120-stroke state qualifying line by a stretch, scoring 103 the first day and 109 the second. Ward moved to St. Regis from Spokane in August of this year and she said she loves the new opportunities the area has provided her in sports and school.
Park said Ward was only 11 strokes short of being in the top 10 scoring girls of the day.
In order to qualify for state, boys have to score a 100 or better on one 18-hole tournament day. Sophomore Zane Worrall had a 100 on his score card on the first day, qualifying him for state. He scored a 103 the second day. Junior Willy Roper scored a 107 on his first day at Larchmont, but stepped things up a notch at the Missoula Country Club to score a 97 and qualify for state.
“I’m pretty proud of them. They were pretty consistent,” Park said.
Roper said one of the most difficult parts of the tournament was waking up to leave St. Regis at 5:30 a.m. to make it to the tournament and be warmed up and prepared by the 8 a.m. starting time.
Park said the day was a big success for the team and that they are well on their way to filling out a successful state golf team. He said the team is allowed four girls and four guys at state and that the top three scores for boys and girls each day are recorded.
“That’s really important, to have that fourth guy, in case someone has a really bad day,” Park said.
Park said he plans to work with his golfers to build consistency and get them ready for state. Each player has to do well enough in practice to be allowed to go to tournaments, which is why Park only took five players to the Loyola Sacred Heart High School Invitational.
“We definitely want to get some more kids qualified,” Park said.
St. Regis was not ranked at the event this weekend because they are a Class C team. Park said since Superior and St. Regis are the only Class C schools with golf teams they have to compete with Class B schools. Superior did not attend the tournament.
Over 100 golfers played at the Loyola Sacred Heart High School Invitational from 12 varsity teams and Loyola’s junior varsity team. Three Forks High School had the lowest scoring girls team and Thompson Falls had the lowest scoring boys team of the day.
The Tigers’ next tournament will be in Plains Saturday.