Lady Cats finish first

PORTALES — It felt like a win for the Portales girls golf team, even though the scoreboard showed otherwise. The opposite seemed true for the Clovis girls.

Clovis won Monday’s tournament at brisk and breezy Portales Country Club, but the host Lady Rams earned a qualifying score toward the Class 1A-3A state tournament. Clovis, which is in Class 5A and has a lower qualifying mark, did not.

It was the first win of the season for the Clovis girls.

“I feel good,” Clovis girls coach Jeff Fontanilla said, noting that Brianne Bracken (89) Susan Shelley (92) did earn a qualifying score as individuals. “We didn’t make a team leg by one shot. We’re kind of in a bad situation, but we’re going to try to build on this.”

It takes three qualifying scores to qualify for the state tournament. The Clovis girls have yet to earn a team qualifying score.

New Mexico Military Institute won the boys competition with a 317, followed by Portales at 319 and Clovis at 327.

Travis Reid led the charge for Clovis with a 1-under-par 71 and Dale Welch of Portales was second with a 74.

The Colts and Rams each earned qualifying scores. It was the Rams’ second.

“Our goal is to qualify in every tournament we’ve played this year and so far we have,” boys coach Greg Poynor said. “We feel like if we play well, we’ll definitely qualify every tournament.”

Clovis coach George Simmons said part of the reason for the dropoff was the Wildcats were missing on of their top players, but he didn’t feel that was an acceptable excuse.

“Without the No. 2 guy, we did fairly well ... not great,” Simmons said. “I was expecting to get a leg.”

Junior Guillermo Chavez played in a Junior PGA tournament in Tuscon, Ariz., over the weekend.

The Wildcats have no worries about the state tournament, as they have already qualified at five tournaments.

Cassidy Merrick cruised to her third individual leg of the season, shooting a 38 on the front nine en route to an 84. Bracken tied for second with Ciarra Cunningham of Lovington.

Merrick’s efforts weren’t enough to keep Portales out of second place. The Portales girls finished between Clovis (386) and Lovington (402).

Portales also got a state-qualifying 92 from Roni Gomez.

“I think Cassidy played pretty close to her potential and so did Roni,” Portales coach Brenda Gomez said. “I think we’ll get better scores with Michelle (Miller) and Oma (Creighton), so it will get better.”

Boys

Team — 1. NMMI 317, 2. Portales 319, 3. Clovis 327, 4. Tucumcari 330, 5. Lovington 331, 6. Dexter 357, 7. Clovis Christian 382, 8. East Mountain 400.

Individual — Travis Reid, Clovis, 36-35 — 71; 2. Dale Welch, Portales, 37-37 — 74; 3. (tie) Perry Jackson, Clovis, 38-39 — 77, Abraham Iza, NMMI, 37-40 — 77; 6. Alejandro Ruiz, NMMI, 39-39 — 78. 7. (tie) Larry Roybal, Tucumcari, 40-39 — 79, Kevin Cartwright, Lovington, 38-41 — 79, Kevin Welch, Portales, 38-41 — 79; 10. (tie) Paul Scheitan, NMMI, 41-39 — 80, Matt Parkey, Portales, 40-40 — 80.

Other NMMI scores — Eduardo Bustos 38-44-82, Adam Douma 39-45-84.

Other Portales scores — Chris Adkins 41-45 — 86, Trevor Ferguson 41-47 — 88.

Other Clovis scores — Ryan Hahn 41-43-84, Blake Berry 49-46 — 95, Tim Vernon 51-44 — 95.

Other Tucumcari scores — Nick Wiegel 43-40 — 83, Matt Smith 42-42 — 84, Aaron Peacock 45-49 — 94, Clay Beevers 51-48 — 99.

Other Lovington scores — Jared Swenson 42-39 — 81, Matt Lovas 42-43 — 85, Ruben Hernandez 41-45 — 86, Evan Sandoval 50-55 — 105.

Dexter — Lawrence VandenBout 40-45 — 85, Taylor Duran 42-46 — 88, Ryan DeLos Santos 43-48 — 91, Lance Swarengin 44-49 — 93, Dustin Devenport 46-50 — 96.

Clovis Christian — Corey Hastings 48-48 — 96, Landon Ware 52-44 — 96, Ryan Boatman 49-48 — 97,Gage Bonestroo 49-50 — 99, Ryan Schaap 56-56 — 112.

East Mountain — Daniel Vieth 49-40 — 89, Mitch Hunter 48-45 — 93, Darryl Del Frate 48-49-97, Marcus Sparling 56-65 — 121, Ryan Comstock 64-64 — 128.

Girls

Team — 1. Clovis 386, 2. Portales 397, 3. Lovington 402.

Indivdual — 1. Cassidy Merrick, Portales, 38-46 — 84; 2. (tie) Brianne Bracken, Clovis 43-46 — 89, Ciara Cunningham, Lovington, 44-45 — 89; 4. (tie) Susan Shelley, Clovis, 45-47 — 92, Roni Gomez, Portales, 47-45 — 92; 6. (tie) Mollie Peterson 49-47 — 96, Amanda Choate, Lovington, 47-49 — 96. 7. Carlee Snyder, Clovis, 52-47 — 99. 8. (tie) Whitney Jones, Clovis, 55-51 — 106; Jennifer Bolin, Dora 49-57 — 106; Katrina Johns, NMMI 55-51 — 106.

Other Clovis scores — Amanda Estes 57-55-112.

Other Portales scores — Oma Creighton 53-55-108, Michelle Miller 55-58-113, Ciara Price 60-59-119.

Other Lovington scores — Sara Taylor 53-53-106, Lindsey Jameson 57-54-111, Ashley Chrisman 55-58-113.

Dora — Jennifer Bolin 49-57 — 106, Allison Field 65-57 — 122, Kelsey McKinney 69-69 — 138.

East Mountain — Sheila Kokenge 55-58 — 113, Emilia Goldfarb 82-70 — 152.

Elida — Lindsey Ward 57-54 — 111.

NMMI — Katrina Johns 55-51 — 106.

Portales JV — Jennifer Bryan 63-67 — 130, Morgan Hill 69-72 — 141.