WINNEMUCCA - With just three league tournaments left to play in the regular season, the Lowry High School boys golf team looks as if it is going to run away with the Northern 3A title.
The Buckaroos won their fourth league meet in as many tries last Thursday, taking home the team title on their home course with a round of 402, which included three golfers in the 70s. Elko was second at 421, defending state champion Churchill County third at 445 and Spring Creek fourth at 458.
"We had some young kids step up today," said LHS head coach Andrew Meyer. "We are young to begin with, having only one senior on the team. Conditions got a little tough with the wind late in the day. A 402 is not a bad score on this course, but the kids expected to shoot better on their home course."
Fernley (487), Dayton (491), South Tahoe (516) and Truckee (521) completed the team scores. Sparks did not have enough players to record a team total.
Lowry remains solidly in front in the league standings with 36 points. Elko is second with 31 points and Spring Creek third with 28. Churchill County has fought its way into the team race but would need the top three squads to falter in the last three tournaments in order to defend its state title.
The top three teams in the final regular season standings advance to the state tournament to be held in Boulder City on May 14 - 15. The first day of the tournament will be held at Boulder Creek Golf Course, with the final 18 holes at Boulder Municipal Golf Course.
Churchill County's Thaaron Kalt shot a score of 75 on the par 72 course to win low medalist honors for the Greenwave. Lowry took the next four spots individually, led by rounds of 78 by brothers Andy Mendoza and Chris Mendoza. Andy Mendoza earned second on the scorecard tiebreaker. Cole Erquiaga was fourth with a 79 and Josh Shaver fifth at 80.
"For what Andy did in his first match as a freshman, I am pretty proud of that kid," Meyer said. "Hopefully that boosts him to play harder. I knew he could do it and now he proved it. Chris just keeps it going; he has shot 78 three weeks in a row and he is being consistent."
Rounding out the scores for Lowry was Chris Dendary with an 87, Joseba Criswell at 88 and A.J. Ourada at 90. Dendary had the final kept team score. Ourada, the only senior on the squad, played as a seventh man for the Buckaroos but his score was not part of the team total.
"A couple of our top guys struggled a bit but they will come around," added the coach. "That just shows how good of a team we have. When someone struggles, somebody else steps up and it has been like that all year."
The Buckaroos travel to Spring Creek on Thursday for the next round of Northern 3A play, beginning at 10 a.m.
"Overall we continue to play well, no matter who we have had on the course," Meyer said. "We have a core of about eight guys that can bring home a medal on any given day. There are still some things we need to work on. Course management is something that we can improve on and that showed today. Spring Creek will have an advantage of playing on its home course and has the ability to go low. We have to be ready to go and that will be a good test for us."
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