For the first time in two years, the Battle Mountain High School boys golf team was able to host a Northern 2A tournament at Mountain View Golf Course. Construction on the course in 2016 forced the Longhorns to forgo play in Battle Mountain.
The Longhorns were back in action last Thursday, as Mother Nature brought along cool temperatures and strong winds to wreak havoc with the golfers.
White Pine fought through the conditions to win the team title with a score of 462. Wells was second at 488 and Battle Mountain (507) was third. West Wendover (510), Spring Creek JV (523), Elko JV (532) and Jackpot (575) rounded out the team scores. Tonopah did not have enough players for a team total.
West Wendover’s Branden Price was the low medalist on the day with a 2-over par 74. White Pine’s Colin Young (75), Seth Robertson (87) finished second, third and. The Wells’ brother duo of Hunter Escamilla and Luke Escamiila each shot 90 to place fourth and fifth.
Noah Villanueva paced Battle Mountain with a round of 94, while Alex Lopez was the other Longhorn golfer to break 100 at 95. Austin Wallock and Brody Young each shot 101 and Connor Rochester had the final kept score at 116. Jacob Tucker carded a 137 for the Longhorns.
Battle Mountain returns to action on Thursday in Stateline at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. That will give the Longhorns a look at the competition from the western side of the state in the 2A.
The Northern 2A Regional Championships will take place on Friday, May 12, in Jackpot.
The top three teams advance to the state championships at Eagle Valley West Golf Course in Carson City. The top five individuals not on qualifying teams also advance to the state tournament.
White Pine and West Wendover will not be a part of the Northern Regional Championship and play in the Southern 2A for the regional tournament. That opens up a couple spots for the Longhorns to claim one of the three spots.
"We really wanted to perform well in our home tournament but we came up short of our season best team score," said BMHS coach Roger Wallock. "Alex played his best round of the year and Noah continued to shoot low 90s for us. However, we need everyone to play to their potential at zone in two weeks if we want to compete at the state tournament".
