The Walker Valley boys' golf team won the Region 3 Large high school tournament Monday at The Bear Trace at Cumberland Mountain, and for the third consecutive season the Mustangs are headed to the state tournament.
Led by medalist Cade Puryear, Walker Valley shot a collective 310 and finished 10 strokes ahead of second-place White County.
"It's a lot of pressure to to try to do that three straight years. I'm especially proud of those three seniors," Walker Valley coach Bob Williams said of Puryear, Parker Gray and Nick McCracken, all of whom contributed counting scores to the victory. "You play all year for one day."
White County won the girls' title and will also move on to the state tournament Oct. 3-4 at WillowBrook in Manchester. Cleveland's Rheagan Hall, who already had won the City Prep and District 5 tournaments, can add the individual region title to her standout senior season, which includes qualifying to play in the state tournament for a fourth time.
Puryear, also the district champion, played in the first boys' group and set the pace for the Mustangs. He was 2 under par before double-bogeying No. 17. He responded to that with a birdie on the finishing hole.
"He said he putted really well," Williams said. "He had a lot of par saves and some birdies. He was rolling it well with the putter."
Puryear's best support came from sophomore and Silverdale Baptist Academy transfer Dalton Sutton, who shot 75 and finished third.
"Dalton played steady all day," Williams said. "He was even through nine and shot 39 on the back."
Area boys qualifying for the state tournament as individuals were Cleveland's Drew Linkous (75) and Bradley Central's Gage Brakebill (76), who finished fourth and fifth.
The next-highest finishing area girl behind Hall was Walker Valley senior Whitney Kincaid, who missed having a chance at becoming a state qualifier by two strokes.
Class Small state: The tournament gets under way today at WillowBrook. The first girls' tee times are scheduled at 9 a.m. EDT, with the first boys' tee times an hour later.
The Chattanooga area is represented by Signal Mountain's boys and girls, the team champions in Region 3.
The Lady Eagles' Lindsey Hollis, now a junior, finished fourth in last year's Class A/AA state tournament, and current senior Taylor Gardner tied for 11th. They combined for a 321, which would've been good enough for second place as a team. However, they did not qualify as a team but rather as individuals because Chattanooga Christian edged them for last year's region title.
They'll be in the running for the team championship this time. Hollis was medalist in the region tournament at Chatata Valley in Cleveland and runner-up the week before in the District 6 tournament at Brown Acres. Gardner won that tournament and finished second in the region.
The Eagles' 306 was led by individual runner-up Foster Wood's 73. Sophomore classmate and third-place finisher Ben Seay shot 76.
The region medalist with a 69 was McMinn Central junior John Houk. He qualified for the state tournament as an individual, as did senior teammate Seth Ward (77) and Polk County senior Garrett Jones (77).
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.