For Sale Creek's Ashley Holland and Signal Mountain's Beck Lewis, this year's City Prep championship turned out to be a senior highlight that showed what they have put into their final season of high school golf.
For Baylor, Wednesday's tournament at the Bear Trace at Harrison Bay was a showcase of the depth of its boys' and girls' programs as they swept the team championships.
Holland made a 55-foot putt on the 14th hole and shot 3 under on the back nine on the way to a 1-under-par 71 and a three-stroke victory in the girls' field. Baylor's Elle Rastvortseva and Stephanie Xian tied for runner-up and led the Lady Raiders to a 14-stroke victory over Cleveland with their team score of 4-over 148.
"I am really excited because my sister (Hannah) won this tournament a couple of years ago," Holland said. "I really wanted to win to show her that I could do what she did. We always talk to each other about who is better, and she pushes me to be better. I was nervous coming out today, but I had a lot of fun and really am proud of the way I played."
Lewis, a fourth-year standout for Signal Mountain, showed how far consistency can go on the course as he shot a 1-under 35 going out and again coming in to win the boys' title by one stroke. On the 17th hole, he escaped a bunker to the left of the pin with ease as he birdied his third par 5 of the day before closing out his 70.
"It's always fun to try and prove you are the best golfer in the city," Lewis said. "My grandfather (Larry Lewis) used to caddie for me when I was just starting to play golf, and to see him out here today supporting me really meant a lot. This is a great memory and probably one of my top three favorite all time."
Baylor's David Schneider-Jerez - the only golfer besides Holland to shoot a 33 on either nine Wednesday - tied for second at 71 with McMinn Central's Josh Loveday, Bradley Central's JT McKenzie and McCallie's Carter Sayman.
Schneider-Jerez was joined by Hayden Maxwell (72), Sheldon McKnight (75) and Grant Burks (76) with counting rounds as the Red Raiders shot a 6-over 294 for a three-stroke victory over rival McCallie. Signal Mountain, which in 2019 won the tournament for the first time, was third at 299.
"We have really good coaches, and we came out here wanting to play good for our school," said Schneider-Jerez, who converted a 30-foot putt on No. 16 as he made three birdies in his last five holes. "We never gave up, even though we didn't start off so well today and had to battle back. We never gave up, and this is a big win for us that we will celebrate together."
The Lady Red Raiders repeated as champions, and from the ninth hole on, coach Gary Partrick's girls were extremely sharp as 2019 City Prep champ Kyndall Shamblin, Rastvortseva and Xian were a combined 2 under over their last 10 holes each - a stretch in which they maded eight birdies, including Xian's three in a row on Nos. 11-13.
Cleveland's runner-up score of 162 came from junior Hannah Nall, who recently committed to Lee University and shot a 75 with birdies on 12 and 17, and Darbi Shay (87). Nall finished fourth, with Bradley Central's Lauren Baker and McMinn Central's Kerigan Klauber sharing fifth after each shot a 77. Baylor's Shamblin (78) was seventh.
Signal Mountain's Sally Hogue made a hole-in-one on No. 11.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.