Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ALBUQUERQUE — With better weather conditions than the first day, Clovis Christian’s boys compiled a better round on Tuesday to wrap up play in the Class 1-3A state golf tournament at Canyon Club at Four Hills golf course.
First-day leader Mesilla Valley, though, put together an even stronger outing and left the defending champion Eagles in the dust to capture the championship with a two-day total of 656.
CCS shaved 11 shots off its Monday tally, shooting 347 to finish a distant second at 705. The SonBlazers went from 341 in Monday’s blustery conditions to 315 on Tuesday.
“We could’ve come out and played fantastic, but they were going to beat us anyway,” Eagles coach Trent McKay said. “They’re better than we are. We’re at a disadvantage when we play these courses that we don’t see (during the season).”
Sophomore Bodee Bratcher led the Eagles, shooting 40-38 — 78 on Tuesday to finish seventh individually at 165, one shot out of a medal position. Mesilla Valley’s Logan Morris was the individual medalist at 81-74 — 155.
Sophomore Noah McKay was ninth overall, shooting 46-42 — 88 to finish at 174, while junior Carter Teune shot 43-45 — 88 on Tuesday and placed 13th at 177.
Clovis Christian’s lone girls entrant, sophomore Kaprix Foote, shot 130 on Tuesday to finish at 262.
In the girls 1-3A Division, Texico matched its first day total of 496 and finished sixth out of six teams at 992. Socorro shot 393-383 — 776 to win by more than 100 shots over runnerup Dexter (443-444 — 887).
Lady Wolverines sophomore Liz Elam ended up ninth individually at 204, shooting 54-51 — 105 on Tuesday. Socorro’s Dayzie Whitehorse took individual honors at 96-88 — 184, two strokes ahead of Lauren Buffett of Bosque.
In Class 5A at Twin Warriors Golf Course in Bernalillo, Clovis High’s lone representative, Jolei Atkins, chopped a few strokes off her first day’s effort. The junior shot 47-46 — 93 to come in 21st overall at 191.
“She played really well the first six holes,” CHS girls coach Joe Dvozenja said. “Then she had a bad stretch, but she finished very strong the last six holes.
“She putted really well. She just had a hard time getting the ball to the greens.”
Centennial shot 366-350 — 716 for a 12-shot margin over runnerup La Cueva. Organ Mountain’s Eleanor Warden took individual honors a 76-75 — 151, three shots in front of Centennial’s Alex Armendariz.
In boys 5A competition, Deming tied with Cibola (319-300 — 619), but took the blue team trophy over the Cougars by virtue of a better fifth-man score (173-178). Cibola’s Aiden Kraftt, though, ran away with individual honors, shooting 12-under 60 on Tuesday to finish at 13-under 131 for a 13-shot margin over Piedra Vista’s Quinn Yost and Deming’s Vari Mariscal.
Albuquerque Academy swept Class 4A team honors at Santa Ana Golf Club in Albuquerque. The Chargers shot 324-304 — 608 for a 22-shot margin over Kirtland Central on the boys’ side, and went 348-361 — 709 to win by 22 strokes over Lovington in girls’ competition.
Belen posted both individual champions, with Grady Cox shooting 76-70 — 146 for the boys and Rylee Salome shooting 75-70 — 145 for the girls.
Dora ousted in play-in round — Dora’s softball season came to a quick end during the single-elimination Class 1-2A play-in round on Wednesday at Rio Rancho Cleveland H.S. as the sixth-seeded Lady Coyotes were ousted by No. 10 Capitan 25-9. After advancing to an eight-team, double-elimination bracket, the Lady Tigers (7-16) were quickly eliminated with losses to No. 2 Tularosa 18-0 and No. 3 Santa Rosa 8-2.
Dora (12-11) tried to make a game of it against Capitan, scoring five runs in the bottom of the fifth to pull to 9-7. But the Lady Tigers responded with a six-run sixth, then added 10 more runs in the top of the seventh.
Freshman Justice Deason was the top hitter for the Lady Coyotes, smacking a double and a triple in three at-bats.