Prep golf tournaments
District 6 Small tournament At BrainerdLegend: Arts & Sciences (CSAS); Bledsoe County (BC); Grundy County (GC); Sale Creek (SC); Signal Mountain (SM); South Pittsburg (SP).Boys’ tee times, No. 1: 9 a.m.—Trevor Smith (BC), Foster Wood (SM), Benjamin Burns (SM); 9:10—Ajay Tenenbaum (GC), Ben Seay (SM), Carson Johnson (SM); 9:20—Tommy Turner (BC), Wesley Portera (SM), Carter Kelly (SM); 9:30—Colton Friday (CSAS), Grant Dees (GC), Austin Swafford (BC); 9:40—Caleb Wagner (BC), Kollyn Cooper (GC), Casey Tierney (SP); 9:50—Ezra Smith (GC), Lucas Woodley (GC), Corbin Pell (CSAS); 10—Justin Shavers (SP), Bailey Foutch (SP), Brady Haston (BC), Trey Hampton (GC).Girls’ tee times, No. 10: 9 a.m.—Hannah Holland (SC), Ashley Holland (SC), Taylor Gardner (SM), Lindsey Harris (SM); 9:10—Madelyn Harris (SC), Ashley Portera (SM), Haylie Wagner (BC), April Weaver (SM); Denver Clendenen (SC), Morgan Mooney (GC), Emily Smith (GC).District 5 Small tournament At Chatata ValleyLegend: Copper Basin (CB); Loudon (L); McMinn Central (MC); Meigs County (Meigs); Polk County (PC); Sweetwater (S); Tellico Plains (TP)Boys’ tee times, No. 10: 8:30 a.m.—John Houk (MC), Garrett Jones (PC), Lucas Pilkey (TP); 8:40—Jasper Cooley (L), Robert Waters (CB), Dylan Walden (Meigs); 8:50—Shane McCammon (S), David Crace (TP), Luke Sneed (PC); 9—Seth Ward (MC), Ricky Utrera (L), Samuel Anderson (Meigs); 9:10—Cole Fowler (CB), Trent Bibee (S), Tyler Wear (TP); 9:20—Haden Blair (MC), Matt Passmore (PC), Eion Cannon (L); 9:30—Trey Peaden (Meigs), Cole Houser (S), Logan Hutcheson (CB); 9:40—Bradley Dunkle (MC), Jonathon Pippenger (PC), Keeton Stakely (TP); 9:50—Cy Massey (L), Austin Collis (CB), Bryce McKenzie (Meigs); 10—Jaxon Marlow (S); Forrest Atkins (TP), Josh Loveday (MC); 10:10—Jake Roberson (PC), Jacob Smith (CB), Connor Mikalajewski (L); 10:20—Ryan McGlothlan (S), Noah Howell (Meigs).Girls’ tee times, No. 1: 8:30 a.m.—Emily Wilson (MC), Tatum Amos (S), Desera Woods (L); 8:40—Meggie Woody (PC), Kaitlyn Cribbs (CB), Katie Whitted (Meigs); 8:50—Callie Kirkpatrick (TP), Caroline Millsaps (L), Carsi Beaty (M); 9—Chandlee Jones (PC), Alaura Rollins (CB), Rebecca Godsey (Meigs); 9:10—Brooke Talley (TP), Alexis Newman-Millard (Meigs); 9:20 Alex Hook (CB), Emily Irwin (S).
The first TSSAA postseason of the 2017-18 school year is set to get underway today.
That is, if the effects of Hurricane Irma allow it.
The District 6 Small golf tournament is scheduled to be held at Brainerd Golf Course, and the District 5 Small tournament is set at Chatata Valley in Cleveland. Play at Chatata Valley is scheduled to begin first with 8:30 a.m. tee times.
The first tee times at Brainerd are slated for 9, with the boys starting on No. 1 tee and the girls starting on No. 10. The girls will start on No. 1 and the boys will begin on No. 10 in Cleveland.
The National Weather Service forecast indicates showers are likely, but mainly after 2 p.m. The temperature is expected to reach a high of 69. Winds of 10 to 15 mph are anticipated, with gusts as strong as 25 mph.
The District 5 tournament was also originally scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Coaches agreed to move the start up half an hour in an effort to possibly finish before the rain arrives.
"Our goal is to play as much as we can (today) and hopefully get it all in," Polk County coach and District 5 tournament director Jason Adams said. "If we don't, we'll pick up where we left off the next available day. I've already talked to them at the course, and they said they're going to keep the pins in the same spot. The hole locations and tee markers have to be in the same place for everyone, and the course said they'd leave it like it is until we get it in."
The logistics aren't as simple for the District 6 tournament.
"They say about 2 or 3 o'clock (this afternoon) is when that big beast coming up the Florida peninsula is supposed to get here," Sale Creek coach and District 6 tournament director Jimmy Pierce said. "That thing could get here sooner.
"I don't know if we'll be able to get underway and get it in in time or not. We may have to move it to another day. If we have to move it, we may be looking for another course."
McMinn Central's John Houk tees off on the 18th hole during the City Prep tournament last week. In the background is Baylor's Sam Marshall.Pierce said the overseers at Brainerd have been great, as far as being accommodating with its course for high school golf events. But he also knows it's a public course and understands it has patrons to provide for and a bottom line of making money, too.
Unlike the situation at Chatata Valley, should bad weather force a stoppage in play today before every competitor finishes, the entire tournament may have to be rescheduled - perhaps at Brainerd, perhaps elsewhere.
"If some finish but not everybody does, I'll probably get together with the other coaches and we'll treat it like a regular tournament," Pierce said. "That means we'd wash it out. I've been in tournaments before where more than half the field finished and they still called it off. Then we'd just have to re-tee it another day."
If the Hamilton County Department of Education decides to close schools, that would also cause a postponement of the District 6 tournament. The HCDE doesn't allow school-related extracurricular activities to take place on days schools are closed.
Additionally, if Hamilton County students are dismissed from school early, that would force the tournament to be stopped at that point.
If either tournament is postponed, they would have the rest of the week to complete them.
The format for district golf tournaments is that the top three finishing boys' and girls' teams, along with the top five individual boys and girls not on those teams, advance to the region tournament. The Region 3 Small tournament is scheduled next Monday at Chatata Valley.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.