BREMERTON — District golf tournaments at Gold Mountain Golf Club today open a busy week and weekend of high school spring sports tourneys, meets and playoff games.
In a last-minute change, Chimacum’s softball team now will host a 1A district game Wednesday instead of Thursday. More on that below.
Meanwhile, 2A and 1A boys and girls golf tournaments last all day today at Bremerton’s Gold Mountain courses.
The Port Angeles boys golf team will continue its quest to make some major noise at the 2A state tournament by qualifying up to five golfers for the state meet.
Ace Joe Barnes, the two-time Olympic League MVP and the sixth-best golfer at state in 2012, already has qualified for state along with teammate Micah Needham.
Still having a shot at a state spot are three other Roughriders, including Garrett Payton, Alex Atwell and Austin Underwood.
Payton and Atwell received first-team all-Olympic League honors along with Barnes.
The three helped lead the Riders to a perfect 8-0 league dual-meet season.
Barnes had a league-best nine-hole average of 38.4 while Payton wasn’t far behind with a third-best 39.6. There were only three golfers who averaged below 40 this year.
Atwell, meanwhile, finished as the league’s fourth-best golfer with an average of 40.6.
At today’s 2A bi-district meet, Payton, Atwell and Underwood need to finish in the top eight of 25 golfers to advance to state.
Also vying for a 2A state berth is Sequim’s Jesse Francis.
Today’s 2A tee-offs start at 10:30 a.m. with Payton set to go at 10:48 a.m., Atwell at 11:06 a.m. and Underwood and Francis in the same three-some that tees off at 11:24 a.m.
Chimacum, meanwhile, is as strong in 1A as Port Angeles is in 2A.
The Cowboys have all five of their top varsity golfers in today’s 1A tri-district championships.
This is the first and only shot the 1A athletes have at making state. Unlike the 2A golfers, the 1A sub-district meet last week did not include any state berths.
The Nisqually League champion Cowboys will have Kevin Miller, Nathan Browning, Riley Downs, Cole Lovekamp and Jack Hilt at today’s meet.
The 1A tourney starts at noon with Miller set to go at noon, Browning at 12:18 p.m., Downs at 1:03 p.m., Lovekamp at 1:30 p.m. and Hilt at 1:39 p.m.
The 2A girls bi-district tournament also is today at Gold Mountain with three Sequim girls still gunning for state berths.
Dana Fox of Port Angeles and Sequim’s Maddy Fisher already qualified for state at the sub-district meet last week.
But still alive with one more shot at state are Sequim’s Brianna Kettel, Elisa Sallee and Caitlin Stofferahn.
Kettel tees off at 10:39 a.m. today, followed by Sallee at 11:15 a.m. and Stofferahn at 11:24 a.m.
District softball
CHIMACUM — The Cowboys will host Lynden Christian in a loser-out 1A tri-district game Wednesday at 4 p.m.
The game originally was scheduled for Thursday but was moved up a day in case of rain-outs.
Wednesday’s winner will advance to the second round Saturday against University Prep. That game, at Kent Service Fields, starts at 2 p.m.
Saturday’s game is loser-out, too.