TORNADO, WV- The Greenbrier East Spartans golf team is headed to the state tournament in Wheeling for the second straight year after winning the Region 3 tournament on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at the Big Bend Golf Club in Tornado, WV.
East shot a 218 on the day and beat the Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles by one stroke (219).
Freshman Isaac Hutchison led the way for the Spartans. Hutchison has had an extraordinary year and always seems to find himself at the top of the leaderboards at days end. He shot a 33 on each nine holes and finished the par-71 course at 5-under par with a score of 66.
“Isaac has been great all year. Plays more like an upperclassman than a freshman. He has been such a great contributor with Jake Honaker all year. For him to be able to put it all together today on this stage was incredible,” Spartan coach Doug Bicksler said.
Honaker came in at 2-under for East with a 69 and Issac Cantrell recorded an 83 (+12).
“The scores were so tight at the end. With Jake and Isaac playing so well we knew it was going to come down to the three and four players. Issac Cantrell was not playing as well as he hoped but exactly where we needed. Nate Dolin was playing great all the way until the 15th where he ran into some trouble. They both did all we asked of them today,” Bicksler explained.
Beckley will also be heading to the state tournament as the top two finishers in the region earn a berth. The Spartans and Eagles were the only teams to shoot below 220 for the day.
“The number one goal for today was qualifying for states. To be able to defend the regional title is just icing on the cake. The fact that both of our scores we so close and under 220 speaks to how good both teams are,” Bicksler said.
States will be held Oct. 3 and 4 at Oglebay Park at the Speidel Course in Wheeling and Bicksler already knows what the coaches will tell his players.
“We will just be telling them to keep working. That is a very difficult course, and they will all need to play well for us to compete. I keep reminding them that the overall winner was +7 and (former Spartan) Arod Lemons finished seventh with 24 over and Jake was 11th with 26 over. Just a different mindset for that course,” Bicksler concluded.
Final Team Scores:
Greenbrier East 218, Woodrow Wilson 219, George Washington 234, Princeton 249, Capital 251, St. Albans 265, Riverside 265, Oak Hill 272.
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