Portales, Clovis boys win district titles

District champions.

That’s exactly the distinction earned Monday by the Clovis and Portales boys golf teams, Portales’ Valen Low on the boys side and Clovis’ Sydni Hill on the girls side.

Portales’ boys took the 4-5A/4A crown at the New Mexico Military Institute course with 298 points, beating out second-place Hope Christian by 18. And leading the way for Portales’ sub-300 score was Low, who was the 5A/4A individual champion with a sizzling 68, his personal best.

Hill was a 6A medalist by shooting an 81, beating out La Cueva’s Tori Jamharian and Reasyn Romero by three strokes at Santa Fe Country Club.

And the Clovis boys won District 2-6A with 314 points at Santa Fe, well lower than second-place La Cueva’s 332.

Exciting stuff indeed.

“It really is,” Clovis coach Dale Fullerton said. “We did a good job. It was really windy conditions, and they aerated the greens and they were not really good. But the kids played real well, competed real well.”

So did Portales with its 298. Considering that was comprised of four golfers, the Rams’ average individual score was 75 when rounded to the nearest whole number.

Familiarity likely helped. Portales was golfing at NMMI for the second time in four days, having competed there Thursday in the Last Chance Invite.

“We played at NMMI Thursday,” Rams coach Matt Hunton said, “and I told the boys that day to shoot 310 or better and 300 or better today (Monday). And they hit it on the number Thursday and were two shots better today. I’m super-proud of all of them. They played really well today.”

On a different day, Hope Christian’s Christian Arguello would likely have been the champion with his 72. On this day, however, Arguello finished second by four strokes behind Low, who lived up to his last name with a 32 and 36. Low had just set a new personal mark of 72 on Thursday before beating that by four strokes on Monday.

“One thing that I’ve talked about all season is just how consistent he is,” Hunton said, “and he showed that again today.”

Did he ever. To the tune of five birdies, 12 pars and just one bogey.

“He doesn’t get rattled on the golf course, which is rare to see in high school,” Hunton said. “He hits a bad shot and it doesn’t mess with him because he knows he’s going to hit the next one better.”

Portales’ Talon Payne and Hope’s Jacob Lucero were next behind Arguello, each shooting a 73. Payne shot a 33 on the front nine, 40 on the back, during a day that included four birdies and an eagle.

“Overall, just really solid golf today for Talon,” Hunton said.

Austin Davis’ 75 (36, 39) and Nate Cota’s 82 (40, 42) rounded out Portales’ top four. Kenevan Bailey also golfed for the Rams and shot a 104 (55, 49).

“Every one of them just played so well,” Hunton said. “They knew what they had to do. I tell the kids, ‘Just win your group.’ If they beat those kids they’re playing with, we won. ... So that’s our focus — ‘Win your group and we win the tournament.’”

Kolt Bennett and Dakota York were Clovis’ best golfers, each shooting a 78. Bennett had the Wildcats’ lowest nine-hole score — a 38 on the back nine after shooting a 40 on the front. York shot a pair of 39s to reach his personal-best 78.

Woody Casey and David Maldonado rounded out Clovis’ top four, with each shooting a 79 resulting from a 38 and 41. The only difference was, Casey’s 38 occurred on the front nine, Maldonado’s on the back.

Christian Fontanilla was just a stroke behind, shooting an 80. His round included a 39 and 41, meaning all five Clovis golfers were under 40 on at least one set of nine holes.

“Most of them started off pretty shaky,” Fullerton said, “but then they made a few birdies ... played pretty well in the conditions. ... We didn’t have anybody shoot a really good score, but as a team they shot real well. That just shows that every man counts.”

In the 6A girls tournament, Clovis finished second with 353 points, behind La Cueva’s 341. Logan Clayton’s 87 was good enough for third place. Destiny Hodges shot a 90, Matti Dosher a 95, and Ashley Maldonado a 101.

On the smaller-schools front, Hope Christian captured the title with 354, not far ahead of second-place Texico’s 367. Grace McDaniel paced the Lady Wolverines with an 84, followed by Sarah Harrison at 92, Kaytlyn Queener at 93 and Charity Wilson at 98 to complete the top four. Macey Tharp also golfed for Texico and shot a 102.

Ruidoso’s Alexandra Michelena became the individual champion by shooting a 79.

Portales’ Janae Hale shot an impressive 39 on the front nine, eventually leading to an 84 after she shot 45 on the back. “She got off to a slow start, but then kind of pieced everything together,” Hunton said. “I think the way she finished is really going to give her some momentum heading into state.”

Kinzie Davis shot a 90 (46, 44) for the Lady Rams.

Teams now have the rest of this week to prepare for state-tournament play at Albuquerque’s Pinon Hills. That tournament will be held next Monday and Tuesday.

The Wildcats won’t be resting on their district-championship laurels. In fact, they have plenty to work on this week.

“Putting for one,” Fullerton said, “and the other one is just the accuracy of the second shot. At Pinon Hills, most of the trouble is from 150 in, so we need to get down in that range and hit greens.”

Portales will also be practicing hard this week.

“We are going to work on our short game,” Hunton said. “Their greens (at Pinon Hills) are extremely fast and we have to hit some high-pitch shots. Some of them can be hard to duplicate, but we’re going to putt on the ball-room floor at the country club (in Portales), see if we can mimic the speed.

“The momentum is definitely back,” Hunton added, “so we’re excited. I know the boys are really excited to do what we set out to do from the beginning — bring home the blue trophy.”