Science Hill, Nickels Roll to District 1 Golf Titles
by STEVE WILMOTHTriCitiesSports.com
September 12, 2018
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- As it has done all season, Science Hill dominated the District 1 Boys’ Golf Championships Wednesday afternoon at the Johnson City Country Club.
With all five golfers shooting 79 or better and all five finishing in the top ten individually, the ‘Toppers fired a collective team total of 293 to capture the district title by 27 shots over runner-up Tennessee High.
“Anytime you go under 300 this time of year, you like your chances,” said Science Hill coach Kevin Vannoy.
Vannoy also likes his chances with the likes of senior Gavin Nickels, who fired a four-under-par 68 on the home links to win the individual title as well.
“Gavin has really come on the last month,” added Vannoy. “This time of year that’s what you need.”
Nickels was one-under on the front nine and carded a scorching 33 on the back side. He rolled in seven birdies on the round.
“I was putting the ball very well,” said Nickels. “Some of the other guys were struggling, but this is my home and course and I know the greens really well.”
University of Tennessee commit Jackson Skeen was runner-up with a two-under 70 while Carter Counts’ 77 and Sean Anderson’s 78 completed the ‘Toppers team score.
The runner-up Vikings got a 74 from third-place finisher Evan Jones and a 77 form Jack Tickle. Davis Hall (84) and Cole Self (85) rounded out the scoring for Tennessee High.
“Evan played really well today,” said Tennessee High coach Bob Ziegler. “That’s his best round of the year and that’s the first time he’s been our team medalist - and Jack hasn’t - all year long. He picked a really good time to do it.
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Dobyns-Bennett finished third in the District 1 Tournament. TriCitiesSports.com photo by Allen Greene. |
“It was a crazy day for sure,” said Tribe coach Mike Holt. “We were grinding, grinding, grinding. It wasn’t late until we pulled away for third. We had not even focused on second at all today. We knew the job we had to do today to move one and then we looked up and we were one stroke down from second.
“We are happy we are moving on for sure, but there’s nothing wrong with having a little bit of a bitter taste going into next week. That’s not such a bad thing at all.”
Holt said he didn’t get the normally consistent effort from the top of his line-up but noted that sophomores William Karst and Taylor Kilgore came through in the clutch.
“Those two guys save us today,” noted Holt. We didn’t play great at the top of the line-up today and those things happen.”
Karst finished and 77 and Kilgore 78 while Zac Fletcher carded an 81 and Spencer Correll an 85.
“That’s about as rare as i’ve seen from those two golfers up top so those young guys stepping up was huge,” continued Holt. “My 3-4 had never seen my 1-2 not play well and they did today and they were able to carry the load.”
During the regular season, Daniel Boone had beaten both Tennessee High and Dobyns-Bennett, but came up 16 shots short in the district to finish fourth.
But it was a promising fourth said ‘Blazer coach Scott Martin.
“We’d like to be in the top three as a team and felt like we had a shot at it today,” said Martin. “But we have had a good year. I had nine players this year and all of them contributed to a team score more than once and I have six of those coming back.
Boone will be sending Hunter Adams (79) and Casey Whiting (83) to the region as individuals. Also going is Volunteer freshman John Wes Lovelace who produced a three-over-par round of 75.
Lovelace is a 15-year-old freshman transfer from North Mississippi.
“I only hit two fairways all day, but my irons were really good and I putted really well. I ended up with three birdies,” said Lovelace. “It’s a lot more hilly and more slopes in the greens than in Mississippi.”
The final two individual spots were claimed by Sullivan East’s Randy Warren (80) and Sullivan South’s Drew Creech (82).
“I’m tickled for Drew as an individual to experience some success to have an opportunity to go play as an individual,” said South coach John Wooten.
Warren battled back from a triple-bogey seven on the first hole to qualify.
“Randy started of bad and I was proud of him for keeping his head in there,” said Each coach Sherrill Flick. “After that seven he played pretty well.”
The Region I tournament is tentatively scheduled for next Monday, although rain is now likely and new date is likely.
District 1 Large School Boys Golf Tournament
Johnson City Country Club - Johnson City, TN
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Science Hill (293) – Gavin Nickels 68, Jackson Skeen 70, Carter Counts 77, Sean Anderson 78, Tarun Hoskere 79.
Tennessee High (320) – Evan Jones 74, Jack Tickle 77, Davis Hall 84, Cole Self 85, Jacob Orr 91.
Dobyns-Bennett (321) – William Karst 77, Taylor Kilgore 78, Zac Fletcher 81, Spencer Correll 85, Luke Lett 91.
Daniel Boone (337) – Hunter Adams 79, Casey Whiting 83, Nick Brock 87, Noah Little 88, Drew Cook 88.
Sullivan South (364) – Drew Creech 82, Chase Bowery 92, Benjamin Kiser 94, Logan Moore 96, Dylan Cowan 110.
Elizabethton (365) – Carson Peters 85, Thomas Tipton 91, Padraig Murphy 91, Brayden Williams 98, Caleb Tipton 104.
Sullivan East (366) -- Randy Warren 80, Joey Snyder 94, T.C. Dillard 94, Zion Laoo 98, Justice Dillard 101.
Sullivan Central (367) – Seth Robinette 84, Brady Sanders 92, Tyler Jones 94, Jacob McMurray 97, Cole Wright 107.
Volunteer (392) -- John Wes Lovelace 75, Tyler Evans 103, Noah Gillespie 104, Jacob Stewart 110, Brody Cloud 112.
David Crockett (467) -- Seth Bible 94, Zach Ford 116, Justyn Forbes 122, Braden Clever 135.
Unicoi County (506) -- Bret Lingerfelt 102, Jordan Hensley 117, Nicholas Hensley 139, Caleb Adkins 148.
Individual Leaderboard
Gavin Nickels, Science Hill 68
Jackson Skeen, Science Hill 70
Evan Jones, Tennessee 74
John Wes Lovelace, Volunteer 75
William Karst, Dobyns-Bennett 77
Carter Counts, Science Hill 77
Jack Tickle, Tennessee High 77
Sean Anderson, Science Hill 78
Taylor Kilgore, Dobyns-Bennett 78
Tarun Hoskere, Science Hill 79
Hunter Adams, Daniel Boone 79