City Prep Golf Tournament
Wednesday at The Bear Trace at Harrison BayBoys’ team scores: McCallie 299 (Jake Levine 72 [4th], Jake Allstun 74 [T5th], Jesse Felker 76, Griffin McCloy 77); Walker Valley 305 (Parker Gray 68 [1st], Dalton Sutton 74 [T5th], Cade Puryear 81, Nick McCracken 82); Baylor 313 (Hayden Hunneke 76, Sam Marshall 77, Sheldon McKnight 79, Joe Reilly 81); Signal Mountain 317 (Carson Johnson 77, Ben Seay 79, Foster Wood 79, Wesley Portera 82); Boyd-Buchanan 332 (Riley Covington 76, Hayes Wood 82, Cameron Baubach 87, Bowman Blocker 87); Bradley Central 339 (Gage Brakebill 80, Bryce Kaufman 81, Tyler Ferguson 87, Lucas Maynard 91); Collegedale Academy 372 (Colton Lang 86, Casey Tull 89, Morgan Baldwin 94, Ryan Van Zyl 103); Silverdale Baptist 376 (Elijah Kirk 87, Grant Rice 87, Drew Rogers 98, Logan Taylor 104); Soddy-Daisy 381 (Luke Ellis 90, Zane Penney 93, Zac King 95, Gavin Hamrick 103). Individuals: Drew Linkous (Cleveland) 70 [2nd]; John Houk (McMinn Central) 71 [3rd]; Matthew Ott (East Hamilton), Nicholas Thompson (McMinn County) 78; Miller Wick (East Hamilton) 79; Seth Ward (McMinn Central) 82; Dodj Watson (McMinn County) 84; Bruce Wilson (Hixson) 85.Girls’ team scores: Baylor 158 (Kyndall Shamblin 75 [2nd], Kelsey Hodge 83 [5th5]); Cleveland 162 (Rheagan Hall [1st], Ellie Mills 95); GPS 162 (Hannah Prescott 78 [3rd], McKenzie Frizzell 84); Signal Mountain 165 (Lindsey Hollis 81 [4th], Taylor Gardner 84); Boyd-Buchanan 169 (Lydia Campbell 84 [6th in scorecard playoff], Zacori Hill 85); Sale Creek 181 (Hannah Holland 88, Ashley Holland 93); Walker Valley 182 (Whitney Kincaid 89, Lauryn Roby 93); Silverdale Baptist 192 (McCall Price 90, Emma Rice 102); Soddy-Daisy 196 (Jessica Kirklen 89, Makayla Perez 107); Chattanooga Christian 202 (Kylan Nash 93, Haley Helton 109).
Judging by the individual winners in the City Prep golf tournament Wednesday at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, one is glad things went the same way as last year, and one was glad they didn't.
Cleveland senior Rheagan Hall repeated as the girls' medalist. Walker Valley senior Parker Gray, who lost in a playoff in 2016, was the boys' medalist.
In the quests for team titles, last year's second-place finishers were this year's first-place teams. McCallie totaled 11-over-par 299 and won the boys' team championship by six strokes over Walker Valley. The Baylor girls' 158 was four shots better than the scores posted by Cleveland and GPS.
Hall won last year's City Prep with a 78, shooting 6 over on the front side, forgoing her driver for the rest of the round and playing par golf on the back.
On Wednesday, the result was the same, but the round wasn't. Battling the elements, she shot a bogey-free 67 for her best competitive round, punctuating it by making a 35-foot eagle putt on No. 17.
"It was really windy and kind of chilly, which I didn't like," Hall said. "I kind of had to adjust to that. I had to figure which clubs to hit into the wind. I was having to figure whether to go up or down a club or hit it a different way."
Hall's victory was so predominant, the next-best girls' score was a 75 by Baylor's Kyndall Shamblin.
"I hit 12 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens (in regulation)," said Hall, who had a five-hole stretch that included birdies on Nos. 8, 10 and 12. "When you're hitting greens, it's really not hard to two-putt, and then make a birdie here and there."
Gray said he thought of last year's disappointment in the tournament as soon as he stepped up to the first tee Wednesday. He and McCallie's Joe Carter, who was held out because of recent back problems but is expected back on the course when the Blue Tornado play this weekend, both had 72 at the end of regulation.
"I think I had six bogeys," Gray said of last year's round. "I know I could've eliminated at least one of them."
This time Gray started out 1 over through three holes, but he made only one bogey the rest of the way. And that was to go with six birdies - the last a chip from in front of the green on No. 17 that proved to be the clincher.
Gray said his 68 was his best score at Bear Trace. Cleveland's Drew Linkous was runner-up with a 70, and McMinn Central's John Houk was next at 71.
"I just putted really well," Gray said. "I ended up with 10-to-15 footers a lot, capitalized on a lot of them, and had a couple of tap-in birdies on par 5s."
McCallie coach Rob Riddle said he thought the course challenged all the golfers, playing at a little more than 6,500 yards for the boys and with the wind gusts factored in. But getting the ball to the green is where the Blue Tornado excelled.
"We had a few too many putts today," Riddle said. "Our putting average was a little high as a team. That's where we lost most of our strokes, on the green today."
Regardless, the Blue Tornado had four golfers shoot in the 70s, paced by Jake Levine's fourth-place 72 and a 74 from Jake Allstun, who tied Walker Valley's Dalton Sutton for fifth.
The Lady Red Raiders' winning team score came from eighth-grader Shamblin and freshman teammate Kelsey Hodge, who shot 83 and finished fifth.
"Kyndall has had a really good year for us," Baylor coach Gary Partrick said. "Today was just another one of those good days. Kelsey may have had her best ball-striking day. She probably hit it good enough to shoot 75, 76. She struggled with her short game, but it turned out to be good enough."
GPS's Hannah Prescott wound up third with a 78 and Signal Mountain's Lindsey Hollis was next at 81. Boyd-Buchanan's Lydia Campbell was one of three to shoot 84 and ended up earning sixth place in a scorecard playoff.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.