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CCS has steep hill to climb after first round

ALBUQUERQUE — The good news for Clovis Christian’s boys after Monday’s first round of Class 1-3A state golf at Canyon Club at Four Hills was they were a lot closer to first place than they were to third.

The bad news is they were facing a 17-stroke deficit to Mesilla Valley heading into Tuesday’s final round.

Defending 1-3A state champion CCS shot a first-day team score of 358, leaving the Eagles comfortably ahead of Socorro and St. Michael’s, who were tied for third at 397. But they had a bit of a mountain to climb against the Las Cruces-based SonBlazers.

Eagles coach Trent McKay said most of the golfers played better early before a strong wind began to wreck havoc.

He still held out hopes of a second-day comeback.

“It can be done,” McKay said. “We were down more than that for a while. It probably doesn’t happen, but it’s at least a possibility.”

Sophomore Noah McKay led CCS at 39-47 — 86, followed by sophomore Bodee Bratcher at 42-45 — 87 and junior Carter Teune at 44-45 — 89. Juniors Austin Lingnau and Caleb Van Beek rounded out the team effort at 47-49 — 96 and 52-48 — 100, respectively.

New Mexico Military’s Jackson Hicks and Santa Fe Prep’s Fisher Hicks were tied for the lead at 79. Noah McKay’s round left him in a tie for seventh place.

In girls competition, Texico ended the first day last in a six-team field at 496, but the Lady Wolverines were just seven shots out of fourth.

Sophomore Liz Elam led Texico at 51-48 — 99, putting her in a tie for fifth place. Other Lady Wolverines tallies included sophomore Sierra Hunt 57-59 — 116, freshman Sophie Schaap 64-64 — 128 and junior Morgan Thatcher 82-71 — 153.

“I was proud of how our kids competed,” Texico coach Kristen Gorman said. “They haven’t seen a course like this before, but they battled and kept their wits.”

Socorro led the tournament at 393, 40 shots ahead of second-place Dexter. East Mountain was fourth at 389, three shots over Santa Fe Prep.

Bosque’s Lauren Buffett and Socorro’s Tivonne Anaya were the first-day individual leaders at 95.

Clovis Christian sophomore Kapriz Foote also competed in the event and shot a first-round score of 64-68 — 132.

Adkins shoots 98 — After a long round which Clovis High girls coach Joe Dvozenja said lasted nearly seven hours, CHS junior Jolei Adkins came out near the middle of the pack in Monday’s Class 5A state girls competition at Twin Warriors Golf Course in Bernalillo after shooting 50-48 — 98.

Scheduled to tee off at 10:50 a.m., Adkins didn’t actually get started until 11:15 a.m. and she wasn’t off the course until just after 6 p.m.

“The course is in great shape,” Dvozenja said. “The conditions, with the wind, were just horrendous.”

Only two players broke 80, he said. Adkins entered Tuesday’s final round in 25th place among 47 golfers.

He said Adkins was slated to go in the first group at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, which should be a help to her.

“There isn’t supposed to be any wind,” Dvojenza said. “It should be a much better day for everyone.”

 
 
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