CHS hosts small field in Wildcat Invite

Liz Elam wasn’t pleased with her start in Clovis High’s Wildcat Invite golf tournament on Tuesday at Colonial Park Golf Course, but she eventually sorted things out.

Starting on the back nine, the Texico High senior shot six-over 42 from holes 10 through 18, then came back for even-par 36 on the front side, easily taking medalist honors for the day with her 78.

“I don’t really know what happened,” Elam said of her slow start. “I wasn’t really that focused.

“I told myself, ‘Don’t worry about the score.’ I just decided to play fun golf.”

Elam is looking for her fourth consecutive trip to Class 1-3A state competition.

Last year, she finished fifth with a 36-hole total of 202, and this year has designs on doing better. Meantime, the Lady Wolverines were second as a team last year at 833, trailing only Socorro (794).

Clovis High won both divisions in Tuesday’s event, although the Wildcats (333) had the only full boys team. Meantime, the Lady Wildcats posted a team score of 365, followed by Texico at 380 and Portales at 435.

Sophomore Kylie Sprinkle led CHS, shooting 38-48 – 86, while senior Emilee Spears shot 44-44 – 88. Rounding out the Lady Cats’ scores were junior Kayleigh Maldonado 48-43 – 91, sophomore Aahana Bhakta 50-50 – 100 and junior Jordyn Archuleta 59-55 – 114.

Spears had one of her best rounds of the year, CHS girls coach Abran Briseno said.

“She kind of struggled the last couple of times out,” he said. “We had her work with a local golf pro, and I think it helped her a lot.”

Sophomore Gabrielle De La Rosa trailed Elam for Texico, shooting 47-45 – 92. Other Lady Wolverines tallies included senior Sierra Hunt 46-57 – 103, junior Sophie Schaap 52-55 – 107 and freshman Riley Fury 59-61 – 120.

Portales was led by junior Adrienne Ruiz at 46-45 – 91, while senior Paige Yazzie shot 52-49 – 101, freshman Elizabeth Barlow 56-59 – 115 and sophomore Aundrea Puebla 65-63 – 128. For Clovis Christian, senior Kaprix Foote tallied 45-57 – 102 and sophomore Lauren Weaver 51-54 – 108.

In boys competition, Clovis had nine of the 13 players taking part in the event, including four extras. Senior Jett Stone shot the day’s best score at 40-38 – 78, followed by sophomore Gavin Anderson at 39-42 – 81.

“I could’ve been better,” Stone said. “I hit some good shots and I hit some bad shots.”

Cats coach Dale Fullerton noted that Stone hit his drives out of bounds on No. 9 and No. 10. He took a bogey-5 on the ninth hole and a double-bogey 7 at No. 10.

“If you eliminated some of those shots, you’re getting pretty close to par,” Fullerton said.

“I thought we did all right, especially Jett and Gavin. They weren’t bad scores, especially as windy as it was.”

Freshman Jakob Stone shot 42-45 – 87 and eighth-grader Zak Spearman 44-43 – 87, while senior Jacob Rowley came in at 47-49 – 96. Among the extra players, eighth-grader Zaydyn Gallegos posted the best round at 42-44 – 86.

Fullerton said everybody is trying to catch Hobbs when the District 4-5A tournament rolls around on May 7 at Roswell.

“Hobbs is probably the team to beat right now,” he said. “After that, Carlsbad, Roswell and us are all pretty close. You’ve got to have some good scores from your three, four and five players.”

Clovis Christian’s two players provided the third and fourth-best scores of the day – freshman Brock Teune at 40-42 – 82 and senior Noah McKay at 38-45 – 83.

Hobbs Invite (Thursday) – The Lady Cats finished third on Thursday in the Hobbs Invite. The CHS boys did not participate in the event.

Carlsbad took team honors at 376, followed by Hobbs (386) and the Lady Cats (413). Artesia (430) and Dexter (463) were the only other full teams.

Sprinkle led the Lady Cats at 43-45 – 88 while other tallies included Bhakta 55-53 – 108, freshman Ezra Chinikidiadi 57-51 – 108, Maldonado 56-53 – 109 and Archuleta 61-61 – 122. Foote shot 55-61 – 116 and Weaver came in at 65-60 – 125 for CCS.

Hobbs’ Kelley Owensby was the medalist at three-over 75.

Led by medalist Kelley Owensby at three-over 75, Hobbs took the boys team championship at 331 to 347 for Carlsbad. Roswell High and Dexter tied for third place at 361,

Teune shot 44-42 – 86 and McKay finished at 44-44 – 88 for CCS.

Clovis returns to action in Tuesday’s Black/Murphy Invite at Lovington. Two days later, the Clovis and Texico girls, Portales and Clovis Christian are slated for New Mexico Military’s Colt Classic at Roswell.