Four teams sending golfers to state tourney

By Andy Brown, andybrown@miconews.com

The golf balls will be flying at Monday’s state golf tournaments, and four area teams will be a part of it.

Paola qualified for the Class 4A state tournament in Manhattan after winning the Ottawa regional with a score of 316. For the first time in many years, Louisburg qualified its entire team as well. The Wildcats finished second to Paola with a 332.

At the same regional, Spring Hill’s Cody Madsen shot well enough to qualify as an individual. Madsen finished with an 82 and will be the lone Bronco at the state tournament.

Jayhawk-Linn rose up to win its home regional with a 349, four strokes ahead of second-place Caney Valley. Chad Purdy won the regional with a 77 to help the Jayhawks qualify for the Class 3A tournament in Salina.

The Panthers are making their second straight trip to the state meet. They are led by senior Brad Pfaltzgraff. Clay Crawford led Paola at Ottawa with a second-place 77, and four of his teammates joined him in the top 10.

Joel Plummer (79) and Pfaltzgraff (80) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Matt Reed (80) took sixth, and Mike Bryson (81) finished eighth. Jake Delks shot a 90 to finish 17th.

The Panthers will have one of the top teams going into the 4A state tournament, but the Wildcats will be right there with them. Playing without one of their top golfers in Jake Fenske, Louisburg pulled through to take second place by 10 strokes.

Senior Dustin DeLand will make his fourth straight trip to state and is shooting for his first medal. DeLand led the Wildcats with an 81 and finished seventh at regionals.

Teammate Patrick Dixon, who also shot an 81, took ninth. Andrew Barker (83), Luke Fenske (87) and Matt Brant (99) will join DeLand and Dixon at Manhattan’s Stagg Hill Golf Course.

Stagg Hill is an 18-hole par-72 course that is 6,697 yards in length and features zoysia grass.

The Jayhawks, led by Purdy, will venture to Salina Municipal Golf Course. The course is an 18-hole par-70 course that is nearly 6,500 yards long.

Purdy wasn’t the only Jayhawk to fare well at regionals. Teammate Ethan Proffitt finished ninth with an 88, and Trevor Connor took 12th with a 90. B.J. Hatfield and Garrett Lowe tied for 16th with a 94.

Both state tournaments will tee off at 8:30 a.m. Monday.