High school girls gear for state championships

 By STEVE WILLIAMS

 Getting a grip on what to expect for the upcoming high school girls state tournaments is quite a headache for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

Conferences are of the hybrid variety, teams come and go from one year to the next and regular season scores are impossible to track.

“It’s not that easy to get an accurate count,” said Carolyn Shannonhouse, assistant executive director of the NCHSAA. “We’ve got some growing pains, but girls golf has really taken off and we are hoping it will continue to grow.”

For the first time this fall, the NCHSAA will conduct championships in two classifications. The 4-A championship will be played Oct. 27-28 at Pinehurst No. 8 and the 3-A/2-A/1-A teams will battle the same dates at Gates Four in Fayetteville.

The teams that make up the state tourney fields will earn their bids at one-day regional tournaments that are set for five different sites Oct. 20. All four classes will assemble at the same sites but scoring will be done separately for the two championship divisions.

The regional sites are: East, Carolina National at Southport; Mid-East, Wake Forest Golf Club at Wake Forest; Mid-West, Pinehurst No. 1; West, Mooresville Municipal and Far-West, Meadowbrook at Rutherfordton.

Three Triad teams that have been making the most noise this fall are Burlington Williams and Southeast Guilford, both 3-A schools, and 4-A Northwest Guilford.

The Lady Bulldogs feature sisters Jessica and Kristin Vincent while Southeast counts on junior Leah Blaney and freshman Sara Beth Pannell. Northwest relies on Erica Creed and Jessica Bonham.

In girls golf, only the top two scores from a foursome count in the team total.

Williams finished fourth in the state a year ago and Southeast was 14th.

In a recent match between the two schools at Alamance Country Club, Southeast shot a respectable 86, only to lose by 20 shots. Jessica Vincent shot 31 and Kristin Vincent 35 for Williams.

Defending champ Richmond County will be the team to beat, this time in 4-A. Burlington Williams is among the favorites in 3-A.

Blair Lamb of 3-A East Henderson is back to defend her championship. She won by nine shots as a sophomore.

CCB Cup

 Some of the top girls teams in the state assembled at Greensboro National Golf Club Labor Day weekend for the inaugural CCB Cup.

Jessica Vincent’s 74 led Williams to a 155 total and a seven-shot victory over Leesville Road of Raleigh. Raleigh Millbrook was third with 163, Northwest fourth with 187 and Southeast fifth with 193.

TGT Junior Tour

 The CCB Cup was played in conjunction with the Triad Golf Today Junior Tour’s fall/winter season opener and the individual scores were carried forward to the second day for a 36-hole total. Vincent followed her 74 with a 77 and she held off Brooke Goodwin of Fuquay Varina by one shot, 151-152. Goodwin shot 80-72. Kristin Vincent finished third at 155 (81-74).

In the boys 14-18 division, Josh Sandman of Greensboro posted back-to-back two-under-par 70s to outdistance Matt Davis of Asheville by three shots. Jayson Judy of Gibsonville was third at 147 (73-74) and Adam Fox of Liberty was fourth at 150 (74-76).

Drew Johnson of Oak Ridge shot 75 to win the 9-under-boys event and Tristan Lough of Elon shot 86 to win in the 7-under division.

The tour’s second fall event was played at Charlotte National Sept. 13-14 and Blake Williams of Elon picked up a two-shot win over Adam Webb of Ridgeway in boys 14-18.

Virginia State Tourneys

 Webb, who plays at Magna Vista High School near Martinsville, is expected to be one of the favorites when the Virginia High School League conducts its Group AA boys state championships this fall.

Webb had an even par scorecard in regular season cumulative play and Magna Vista is undefeated with a high score of 151. Jerell Whiting, Josh Williams and Joseph Wyatt are the team’s other mainstays.

Martinsville High School is led by defending state champion Steven Spivey along with Bryce Ashby.

Dan River High School has a pair of outstanding individuals in Andrew Tilley and Daniel Hudgins.

The group AA state tournament is set for Oct. 20-21 at Independence Golf Club in Richmond. Teams have to make it through District and Regional tests before advancing to the state.

The Virginia group AAA state event is set for Oct. 15-16 at Virginia National Golf Club in Bluemont. Danville George Washington is in that class and Steven Boyd is the team’s leader.

Other Tourneys

 The first Joe Cheves Junior Invitational was played Sept. 6-7 at Mimosa Hills in Morganton and attracted some of the strongest players in the state.

North Carolina Junior champion Barden Berry of Kinston won the event by two shots over Vince Hatfield of Greenwood, S.C.

Berry finished at five-under-par 139 (71-68).

Weston Way of Liberty was third at 142 (71-71) and Will Bowman of Greensboro (71-73) and Chris Evans (75-69) of Greensboro tied for fourth at 144. There were 63 players in the field.

Other top Triad finishers were Burton Wood of Siler City (tied for 14th, 76-72); Matt Dowdy of Jamestown (tied for 23rd, 77-74) and Josh Sandman of Greensboro (tied for 23rd, 74-77).

In the girls division, where 26 players competed, Kandy Carland of Etowah edged Blythe Worley of Greenville in a playoff to take the title. Carland’s 10-foot biride putt on the first extra hole ended the playoff quickly after the two players had ended regulation play at 146. Carland shot 72-74 and Worley 71-75.

Corrine Carr of Pinehurst finished a shot off the pace at 147 (76-71).

Top Triad finishers were Sydney Crane of Jamestown (tied for 14th, 81-80); Mary Kate Bowman of Winston-Salem (tied for 17th, 86-76) and Amber Littman of Stoney Creek (tied for 17th, 82-80).

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Jordan Ridge of Greensboro won the Plantation Junior Tour event at Pine Needles Aug. 30-31, shooting 79-82.
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The International Junior Golf Tour is staging an event at Grandover Resort’s East Course Oct. 11-13. There are still openings in the field of 96.

The IJGT will return to the state Nov. 21-23 at Pinehurst No. 8.

State Rankings

 Nathan Stamey of Canton and Blythe Worley of Greenville are the top ranked players in North Carolina, according to the CGA rankings released Sept. 9.

Webb Simpson of Raleigh, Barden Berry of Kinston and Robert Reisen of Pinehurst round out the top four.

Top-30 ranked players from the Triad include Drew Weaver of High Point (No. 7), Jake Chominsky of Greensboro (No. 12), Weston Way of Liberty (13), Chris Evans of Greensboro (14), Matt Dowdy of Jamestown (22), Preston Yates of Winston-Salem (26) and Nathan Spoon of Graham (30).

In the girls list, Blair Lamb of Flat Rock follows Worley while Jessica Vincent of Burlington is fourth.

Triad players in the top 30 are Jordan Ridge of Greensboro (No. 8), Amber Littman of Stoney Creek (11), Kristin Vincent of Burlington (13), Lauren Smith of Salisbury (18) and Sydney Crane of Jamestown (26).