Keoni Vidrine’s Polk County teammates sang “Happy Birthday” to him as he warmed up for the Region 3-A/AA golf tournament Thursday.
“I think it loosened him up so he could have fun, play golf and not worry about it all,” said fellow senior Brock Raper.
Whether the levity helped or not, Vidrine earned medalist honors on a Valleybrook Golf and Country Club course that was set up for championship conditions with hard fairways, distant tees and tough pins on healthy greens. He shot a 7-over-par 78 to boost the Wildcats to their first region championship and their first Class A/AA state tournament, which will be played Oct. 5-6 at Manchester’s Willowbrook Golf Club.
“I was just hoping to break 80 and I did, so I’m pretty happy,” Vidrine said. “I didn’t even hit my driver today, and I almost always hit that club. My short game was off, but I still managed a 78.”
The Wildcats won with a total of 347. East Hamilton was second at 352, Boyd-Buchanan was third at 354, Hixson shot 355 and McMinn Central shot 358.
“It was nerve-racking today,” Polk County coach Jason Adams said. “My stomach was twisting. I didn’t know until our last guy was on 18 green that it looked good. Then [East Hamilton coach] Jeff Stetzler confirmed we won. I had to ask him, ‘Are you sure?'”
McMinn Central had a little less drama in winning the girls’ championship and advancing to the state tournament for the first time as well. Chargerettes senior Becca Kimberlin was the medalist with an 85.
“It’s awesome and it’s what we wanted,” Kimberlin said. “I played in state last year as an individual, and we wanted to go as a team, and now we’ll see how that turns out.”
Both first-time region-champion programs have progressed immensely in recent years. McMinn Central coach Doug Armstrong said his girls have gone as well as Kimberlin and Gillian Roberts have gone.
Polk’s Wildcats have been steadily improving since reviving the program six years ago.
“Those first two years, we didn’t win a match,” Adams said. “Now I have middle school kids coming up to me at football games asking what they need to do to be ready for varsity.”
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/UchSports