WINNEMUCCA - For the last two seasons, the Lowry High School boys golf team has been untouchable.
The Buckaroos have not lost a match since 2011 and their reign continued this past Thursday in the Division I-A North finale at Old Greenwood in Truckee.
Lowry shot its worst team score of the season, a 415, but it was still good enough to beat Elko (431) by 16 shots. Spring Creek was third at 438. All three teams qualified for the state championships currently being played at Sierra Sage Golf Course in Reno.
"Old Greenwood is a great place to close out the season," said LHS head coach Andrew Meyer. "The scores were up quite a bit from what we are used to. It is a tough course to play on. Some of the kids were discouraged about their scores, but they shouldn't be. We are just looking to get ready for what should be a pretty good state tournament."
It was the Buckaroos fourth league championship in the last five years.
South Tahoe was fourth with a 462, Dayton was fifth at a 464 and Truckee finished sixth on its home course with a total of 475. Churchill County (511), Fernley (523) and Sparks (566) rounded out the team standings.
Lowry had the top two individual finishers, with Cole Erquiaga as the low medalist at 78. Ethan Gray was second with a 79. Gray was named the Division I-A North Most Valuable Player on the season with an average of 75.2. Erquiaga was selected to the Division I-A North first team with his season average of 78.2, which tied him with teammate Chris Mendoza for the third best average in the north.
Sophomore Andy Mendoza posted the second-best average of the year at 76.2 and was named to the first-team, all-league squad. Chris Dendary, who shot 84 at Truckee, was the fourth Buckaroo player to earn first-team, all-league honors. Elko's Jon Hull and Caden Bammesberger were the remaining players on the first team.
"That is pretty impressive to have the top four averages in the league and five of the top seven," Meyer said. "Ethan played well all year and deserved that MVP honor. Cole missed the first couple of weeks and could not throw out any scores for his average, which hurt him."
Josh Rose shot a 91 for the Buckaroos and will be one of a number of players for Lowry who will be battling for that final spot before the state tournament gets underway.
"The last couple of weeks have been really tough on me," Meyer said. "After qualifying I had my team set, but things have changed. I had them qualify on Friday and from there I am taking the top two to state with me. Those two played 18 holes at Red Hawk on Monday and the best score from there is going to play at state. I just want the best player to be going to state. With the southern teams we have to face, it is going to be a great battle. The state championship could come down to the sixth spot."
The Buckaroos opened play today at the NIAA Division I-A State Championships presented by Farmers Insurance. Results of the first 18 holes were not available by press time. However, results from the first day can be found at www.niaa.com.
The second round at Sierra Sage is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. today. Lowry is attempting to win its state-record 12th state championship and third in four years.
"It's all about getting the mental game down and putting it together at the right time," Meyer said. "We are in the right mindset and the kids are happy. My two seniors are soaking in these final days, but I don't think it has hit them quite yet. It will be different for me. I really have not had to replace my guys due to graduation. I just want them to have fun and enjoy the moment. With the team we have, we have the ability to post some low scores. I just don't want to put a lot of pressure on them."
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