SEQUIM — Three area golfers earned match medalist honors at the Olympic League 1A/2A championships at Cedars at Dungeness.
Sequim’s Jack Shea was the top 2A boys finisher with a score of 3-under-par 69.
“That’s just outstanding. Anything under par is fabulous,” Port Angeles coach Mark Mitrovich said of Shea.
“It’s his home course, but you still have to go play.”
Bainbridge dominates
Chimacum’s Chris Bainbridge won the 1A boys title Tuesday with a 1-under-par 72, which was three strokes better than favorite and defending Olympic League MVP Aaron Holliday of Klahowya.
“Chris shot even-par 72 for the first time he’s broken 80,” Chimacum coach Mitch Black said.
“Chris has a nice swing, one you don’t have to mess with, and his game is moving into another league if he continues to play.”
Sequim sophomore Alex McMenamin was the 2A girls champion with an 18-hole score of 78.
She was the only North Olympic Peninsula girl to earn a state berth.
Three other Wolves advanced to next Tuesday’s district tournament at Gold Mountain Golf Course in Bremerton: Kailee Price and Sarah Shea tied for 13th with rounds of 98, and Brianna Kettel shot a 100 to place 18th and grab one of the final district spots.
Port Angeles’ top finisher was Kate Haworth, who shot a 102 and missed the cut by two strokes.
The North Olympic Peninsula claimed all three medals in the boys 2A tournament.
Port Angeles teammates Alex Atwell and Mason Jackson each shot 1-under-par 72 to tie for second behind Jack Shea.
“Alex and Mason, those are their lowest scores of the year, by far,” Mitrovich said.
“Those are the first under-par rounds of the season for both of them.
“It’s a great time [of the season] to do that.”
The top six 2A boys finishers earn state berths.
Sequim’s Travis Priest tied with Bremerton’s Bryce Kahle and Olympic’s Bryce Hoskinson with scores of 79 to force a three-way playoff for the final state berth.
Priest beat the Bryces with a birdie on his playoff hole to claim the state berth.
The seventh through 17th finishers advance to next week’s district tournament at Gold Mountain.
Port Angeles’ Alex Brown shot an 80 to take ninth and miss the three-hole playoff by one stroke.
It was close.
“On the last hole, he left a birdie putt on the lip,” Mitrovich said.
Two Sequim golfers earned district berths: Jade Arnold tied for 10th with an 81 and Alex McCracken was 13th with an 83.
Port Angeles nearly had two more district qualifiers.
Austin Peterson shot an 81, but he signed an incorrect scorecard and therefore was disqualified.
Peterson had a double-bogey on the 18th hole, but both he and the player keeping his score wrote down a bogey.
Peterson noticed the mistake when he saw the 80 next to his name on the leader board.
“He was forthright and honest,” Mitrovich said. “He saw the 80 on the board and said ‘That’s not right.’ So he’s to be applauded for that.
“The rules are harsh, but they are the rules for a reason. It’s a tough life lesson.
“I wish it was a two-stroke penalty [rather than a disqualification].”
Port Angeles sophomore Logan Kovalenko shot an 87, which was one stroke shy of the final district spot claimed by Kingston’s Nolan Setterlund with an 86.
No state berths were up for grabs for the 1A boys, but the top 11 finishers move on to districts, also at Gold Mountain, next week.
Chimacum and Port Townsend claimed nine of those 11 berths.
Holliday and Andrew Nelson, also of Klahowya, placed second and third, respectively, behind Bainbridge to earn medals.
Chimacum’s Jack Hilt and Port Townsend’s Zack Glover tied for fourth with rounds of 77.
The Cowboys took the next three spots: James Porter was sixth with a 78, Marcus Bufford was seventh with a 79 and Colton Shaw came in eighth with an 84.
Senior Drew Yackulic, a first-year golfer making the switch from baseball, shot a 93 to finish 11th lock down the final district berth.
For the Redhawks, Sebastian Thomas Anderson placed ninth with an 86 and Austin Khile and Patrick Morton tied for 10th with rounds of 89.
