If the first two tournaments of the Northern 3A boys golf season is an indicator, the top three spots for the state tournament in May are up for grabs.
The Lowry High School boys earned a fourth and second-place finish at Dayton and Fernley to start the season last week.
The Buckaroos opened the season on Monday, March 12, at the tough Dayton Valley Country Club and shot 377 to place fourth. Spring Creek, the defending state champion, won the tournament with a 351. South Tahoe was second at 354 and Truckee (354) was third. Elko (383), Churchill County (390), Fernley (435) and Dayton (517) rounded out the teams scores.
Spring Creek’s Daniel Mahlke was the low medalist at 79. South Tahoe’s Dalton Drum finished second with an 82 and Churchill County’s Kelvin Cann (83) was third.
Peyton Capellen led the Buckaroos with a 90, while teammate Dillon Patterson shot 91. Zane Fifield and Seth Duncan each shot 98. Kobe Stoker (100) and Rian DeLong (102) rounded out the scores. It was the first high school tournament fir DeLong, who is a freshman.
The scores were much better the following day in Fernley on an easier course. Spring Creek won for a second straight tournament with a 324 but Lowry was close behind at 332 to place second. South was third at 341, followed by Truckee at 354.
Cann claimed the individual title with a 75 and Mahlke was second at 76. Fifield paced the Buckaroos with a 77 and was third overall.
Capellen (81), Patterson (85) and Stoker (89) all broke 90 to give thew Buckaroos the runner-up finish. DeLong fired a 99 and Duncan shot 105.
After two tournaments, Lowry is in a spot to claim one of the three state tournament berths in the Northern 3A. The league does not host a postseason tournament and the top three teams that qualify are based on point standings throughout the year.
Weather permitting, Lowry hosts the Northern 3A on Thursday morning.
