Lady Indians, THS Boys Claim District 1 Golf Titles
by STEVE WILMOTH
TriCitiesSports.com
September 18, 2017
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – The Dobyns-Bennett Lady Indians saw a slim lead slip away to Tennessee High at last week’s conference championships.
At the District 1 Large School championships Monday at Tri-Cities Golf Club, the Lady Tribe posted the two lowest scores of the day for a team total 153 and a convincing 12-shot win over the Lady Vikings.
The boys’ finishers were the same as last week’s conference championships with Tennessee High, Science Hill and Dobyns-Bennett first, second and third.
The top three team finishers and remaining top five individuals all qualify for next Monday’s Region 1 Large School Championships at Morristown Country Club.
D-B’s Isabella van der Biest backed up her individual conference crown with a three-over par 74 to also capture the individual district title.
The freshman failed to produce a birdie on the day, but pared the first ten holes in succession.
“It would be nice if I made a few more putts for birdies because I had a lot of opportunities,” said van der Biest. “My putting got worse on the second nine, but I hit a lot of greens which helped. And pars are always good.”
Teammate Katerina Scott was runner-up, five shots off the pace, but ten shots better than last week’s effort in the conference round.
“It feels really good to bounce back like that,” said Scott. “I practiced a lot this weekend. The course was really tough today and I think everyone was getting frustrated. I made a really good birdie-par on my last two holes coming in.”
Scott, van der Biest and Elizabeth Schnede, who carded an 87, good for a tie for seventh on the individual leaderboard, spent considerable time on the course over the weekend.
“They’ve been out practicing here several times,” said Lady Indian coach Bill Darnell. “Katerina stepped it up quite a bit and we needed her. All three played pretty well.”
Lily Self (81) and Ivy Foran (84) comprised the Lady Vikings’ 165. Sullivan South was third at 171 with Kara Carter third overall with an 80 and Karli Goff carding a 91.
“You just want to be in the top three here,” said South coach Anthony Richardson. “It’s nice to be moved up with the really big schools and still qualify for the region.”
Carter bogeyed the first six holes, but the freshman was steady the rest of the way.
“Kara started out badly and started pressing a little bit, not realizing that everybody was struggling,” added Richardson. “She could have easily shutdown, but brought it home.”
Goff suffered a tough segment where she went eight-over on a three-hole stretch before finishing par-par.
“Karli could have easily blown up, too, and we would have been done,” noted Richardson.
Daniel Boone were fourth in the team standings but advanced all three Lady ‘Blazers advanced – Abby Yarbrough (87), McKenzie Miller (92) and Baylor Padgett (93). Science Hill’s Lillian Qin advanced with a fifth-place round of 82. Volunteer’s Kim Gibson also shot 93 to qualify.
Tennessee High’s Jet Tickle (72), Stone Cozart (74) and Jack Tickle (75) finished first, third and fourth to lead the Vikings (300) to a seven-shot win over Science Hill.
The ‘Toppers got a runner-up finish from conference champion Jackson Skeen (73), a fifth-place from Sean Anderson (77) and sixth from Tarun Hoskere (78) as part of a 307 team score.
Dobyns-Bennett totaled a 324 to finish third and move on to next weeks’ regional. The Indians were paced by Zac Fletcher and Spencer Correll, who both shot 79.
“We definitely had to grind for it,” said Dobyns-Bennett coach Mike Holt. “It wasn’t a thing of beauty but I was proud of how we gutted it out on the back nine. We will treat next week as what it is, a huge opportunity.”
The top 11 golfers on the individual leaderboard were part of qualifying teams leaving the individual qualifying spots to Ethan Mays and Randy Warren of Sullivan East, Carter Whiting and Noah Little of Daniel Boone and Jacob Cox of Sullivan South.
“Jacob is our only senior,” Richardson said. “And he’s had to wait his time behind some real studs that we’ve had. So I’m really pleased for him.”
Mays was 12th overall with an 80, Warren and Holt tied for 13th with an 81, Whiting was 15th with a round of 82 and Cox 19th with an 85.
Only the team champion and top three individual finishers at next Monday’s regional tournament earn spots at the Division I Large School State Championships in Manchester the following week.
2017 District 1 Large School Championships
Tri-Cities Golf Club – Blountville, TN
Monday, September 18
BOYS
TEAM RESULTS – top four scores comprise team score
*TENNESSEE HIGH (300) – Jet Tickle 72, Stone Cozart 74, Jack Tickle 75, Davis Hall 79, Evan Jones 83.
*SCIENCE HILL (307) – Jackson Skeen 73, Sean Anderson 77, Tarun Hoskere 78, Carter Counts 79, Gavin Nickels 79
*DOBYNS-BENNETT (324) – Zac Fletcher 79, Spencer Correll 79, Tucker Holt 81, Taylor Kilgore 85, William Karst 86.
DANIEL BOONE (340) – Casey Whiting 82, Noah Little 85, Hunter Adams 86, Cam Anderson 87, Nick Brock 89.
SULIVAN EAST (355) – Ethan Mays 80, Randy Warren 81, TC Dillard 95, Carson Tate 99, Joey Snyder 100.
SULLIVAN SOUTH (360) – Jacob Cox 85, Drew Creech 90, Ben Kiser 91, Chase Bowery 94, Riley Hobbs 98.
SULLIVAN CENTRAL (371) – Jacob McMurray 92, Blake Lucas 92, Ben Williams 93, Tyler Jones 94, Noah Vaughn (102).
DAVID CROCKETT (392) – Luke Larkins 93, Zeke Adams 96, Seth Bible 97, Zack Ford 106, Dylan Allen 110.
ELIZABETHTON (392) – Padraig Murphy 89, Cooper Tiptin 95, Colby Dugger 101, Dalton Mullins 107, Garrett Barnette 124.
VOLUNTEER (401) – Jacob Stewart 89, Tyler Evans 101, Brody Cloud 104, Jonah Fisher 107, Jordan Hammonds 115.
UNICOI COUNTY (526) – Ty Thelen 124, Caleb Adkins 126, Nicholas Hensley 129, Noah Tillison 147, Nicholas Lynch 160.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS – top five not on qualifying team advance to Region
1. Jet Tickle, Tennessee High 72
2. Jackson Skeen, Science Hill 73
3. Stone Cozart, Tennessee High 74
4. Jack Tickle, Tennessee High 75
5. Sean Anderson, Science Hill 77
6. Tarun Hoskere, Science Hill 78
t-7. Davis Hall, Tennessee High 79
t-7. Zac Fletcher, Dobyns-Bennett 79
t-7. Spencer Correll, Dobyns-Bennett 79
t-7. Carter Counts, Science Hill 79
t-7. Gavin Nickels, Science Hill 79
**12. Ethan Mays, Sullivan East 80
**t-13. Randy Warren, Sullivan East 81
t-13. Tucker Holt, Dobyns-Bennett 81
**15. Carter Whiting, Daniel Boone 82
16. Evan Jones, Tennessee High 83
t-17. Taylor Kilgore, Dobyns-Bennett 85
**t-17. Noah Little, Daniel Boone 85
**t-17. Jacob Cox, Sullivan South 85
t-20. William Karst, Dobyns-Bennett 86
t-20. Hunter Adams, Daniel Boone 86
* Team Qualifier
** Individual Qualifier
GIRLS
TEAM RESULTS – top two scores comprise team score
*DOBYNS-BENNETT (153) – Isabella van der Biest 74, Katerina Scott 79, Elizabeth Schnede 87.
*TENNESSEE HIGH (165) – Lily Self 81, Ivan Foran 84, Isabella Adkins 93.
*SULLIVAN SOUTH (171) – Kara Carter 80, Karli Goff 91.
DANIEL BOONE (179) – Abby Yarbrough 87, McKenzie Miller 92, Baylor Padgett 93.
SCIENCE HILL (180) – Lillian Qin 82, Grace Smith 98.
VOLUNTEER (214) – Kim Gibson 93, Ellie McLean 121, Tieran Whalen 126.
DAVID CROCKETT (221) – Sadie Bowles 107, Madison Day 114, Gracie Garland 119.
UNICOI COUNTY (226) – Alana Peel 106, Grace Ann Clark 120, Kaitlyn Higgins 130.
ELIZABETHTON (261) – Hannah Williams 110, Hannah Colbough 151.
SULLIVAN CENTRAL (264) – McKenzie Coffee 128, Morgan Davenport 136.
SULLIVAN EAST – McKayla Torbett 96.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS – top five not on qualifying team advance to Region
1. Isabella van der Biest, Dobyns-Bennett, 74
2. Katerina Scott, Dobyns-Bennett 79
3. Kara Carter, Sullivan South 80
4. Lily Self, Tennessee High 81
**5. Lillian Qin, Science Hill 82
6. Ivy Foran, Tennessee High 84
t-7. Elizabeth Schnede, Dobyns-Bennett 87
**t-7. Abby Yarbrough, Daniel Boone 87
9. Karli Goff, Sullivan South 91
**10. McKenzie Miller, Daniel Boone 92
t-11. Isabella Adkins, Tennessee High 93
**t-11. Kim Gibson, Volunteer 93
**t-11. Baylor Padgett, Daniel Boone 93
* Team Qualifier
** Individual Qualifier