Eight MAAA golfers qualify for state

By DONN ADAMSON\Daily Journal Sports Editor

FARMINGTON - The Eagle Lake Golf Course was infiltrated with an abundance of high school golfers as not only the 11 teams of the Class 2, District 1 Tournament were on the course Tuesday, but also playing were the 11 teams of the Class 3, District 1 Tournament. A total of 94 golfers were on the 18 hole course for the all day affair, combining for a total of 10,719 strokes.

District golf tournaments are the next step to going to the state tournament with the first-place team and the Top 10 golfers (not counting the winning team) qualifying for the state meet in each class. (See list below.)

Dexter won the team honors in Class 3, and Steelville placed first in Class 2 with three of their golfers finishing in the Top 15. Plaques were given for the top two team scores and medals for the lowest 15 scores. Only the best four scores (out of five) are used for the team score.

CLASS 3 -

Dexter finished with a top score of 324, which was 16 better than second place Farmington at 340. North County was just five strokes back at 345 for third place. Fourth was Notre Dame at 351, 5th - Festus 357, 6th - De Soto 371, 7th - Fredericktown 378, 8th - Sikeston 386, 9th - Windsor 402, 10th - Perryville 407, and 11th - Ste. Genevieve 438.

Farmington had three players qualify for state with Matt Rhodes shooting an 81, good enough for fourth in the tourney and second among individual state qualifiers. Gene Williams qualified sixth with an 83, and Brian Gallagher tied for seventh with an 86, the cut-off score for Class 3. Williams and Gallagher finished in eighth and tenth place respectively in the tournament. Jordan Pannett scored a 90 and David Slinkard recorded a 116.

North County's Jake Black shot two over on the front nine and one under on the back for a one-over-par 73, only to be aced out by Dexter's Andrew Steuver who shot a one-under par 71 for medalist honors. Black's 73 placed him second in the tourney and the first individual qualifier for State.

Cory Claywell will be joining Black at the state meet as a representative of North County scoring an 86, and tying for 10th in the tournament. Luke Elders finished with a 90, Dustin Gray a 96 and Caleb Baron a 110 for the rest of North County's scores.

Fredericktown's Logan Royer qualified as the team's only entry for the state meet. Royer's 82 was good enough for sixth place in the tourney and made him fourth best individual qualifier. Chase Dunham shot a 90, Clay Street a 102, Jared Williams a 104 and Kyle Polete a 109.

The Ste. Genevieve Dragons were unable to qualify a player for state with Justin Kertz finishing with the team's low score of 99. D.J. Gegg was next at 107, Justin Sexauer scored a 115, Aaron Parker a 117, and Tori Kemper came in at 132.

Potosi played in the District 2 Tournament held at the Birch Creek Country Club in Union on Monday. The Trojans placed 10th with a 393, but was unable to qualify any players for state. Potosi was led by Sean Martin with an 88. Brittany Chazelle shot a 98. Jason Heeter scored a 103, Bobby Sansoucie a 104, and Wade Pashia a 105.

CLASS 2

After placing last in the district tournament in 2005, the Steelville Cardinals turned things around and came out on the other end of the spectrum. Steelville won first place in the tournament with a score of 360, 19 strokes ahead of second-place Central. The Cardinals top four players were only four shots apart from top to bottom (87-91).

Following Central at second was 3rd - Arcadia Valley 385, 4th - Bourbon 391, 5th - New Madrid County 402, 6th - Kennett 419, 7th - Doniphan 459, 8th - Malden 480, 9th - Cuba 485, 10th - West County 526, and Caruthersville which did not have four golfers finish the course.

The Central Rebels will have two golfers playing in the state meet with Will McDowell scoring an 88 and Justin Bowers a 91. The qualifying cut-off score for Class 2 was 93. Rolin Baker finished with a 98, Tory Marler shot a 102, and Matt Watkins scored a 108.

Jordan McLaurin was district medalist for the second year in a row. McLaurin shot a 76 and was followed by second place Abe Warren at 81 to be Arcadia Valley's two state qualifiers. Chase Bennett shot a 113 and Kassie Walker finished with a 115.

Torey Watson scored West County's lowest score with a 110, Ethan McCoy was next at 136, Chris Scott and Tom Long each shot 140, and Andrew Wisdom shot a 147.

Class 3, Top 15

Place Name, school score SQ

1. Andrew Steuver, Dexter 71 team

2. Jake Black, North County 73 1

3. Pax Demaree, Dexter 77 team

4t. Matt Rhodes, Farmington 81 2t

4t. Josh Venz, Festus 81 2t

6t. Logan Royer, Fredericktown 82 4t

6t. Brandon Holzum, Notre Dame 82 4t

8. Gene Williams, Farmington 83 6

9. Daren Jackson, Dexter 84 team

10t. Brian Gallagher, Farmington 86 7t

10t. Corey Claywell, North County 86 7t

10t. Cameron Crow, Windsor 86 7t

10t. Brett Slaten, Notre Dame 86 7t

14t. Taylor Carron, De Soto 88 -

14t. Zachary Bridgewater, Festus 88 -

CLASS 2, Top 15

1. Jordan McLaurin, Arcadia Valley 76 1

2. Abe Warren, Arcadia Valley 81 2

3. Justin Darroh, Caruthersville 84 3

4. Anthony Martin, Steelville 87 team

5. Will McDowell, Central 88 4

6t. Myles Beckett, Bourbon 89 5t

6t. Gray Hodge, Caruthersville 89 5t

8t. Jonathan Rodgers, Kennett 90 7

8t. Brad Brooks, Steelville 90 team

10t. Josh Fester, Steelville 91 team

10t. Justin Bowers, Central 91 8t

10t. Taylor Bond, Doniphan 91 8t.

13. Josh Booker, Steelville 92 team

14t. Matt Hazel, Caruthersville 93 10t

14t. Brandon Smith, Bourbon 93 10t