When district golf came to an end on Oct. 10, seven individual golfers from the Platte County area earned a spot at state.
Park Hill and Park Hill South were in the Class 4 District 4 Tournament at Paradise Pointe Course, while Platte County was at Eagles Landing Golf Course in the Class 3 District 4 Tournament. The Lady Trojans finished in fourth place and the Lady Panthers ended in eighth place, while the Lady Pirates took third place in their respective districts.
The Lady Pirates will have some familiar faces at state, with all three qualifiers having at least one year of state experience before this season. Bailey Silcott is officially a 3-time state qualifier after the senior finished in a tie for seventh place with 94 strokes.
Park Hill’s Reagan Bell is one of three Lady Trojans to qualify for state golf.
Ella Green had the best finish for Platte County, earning fourth place overall with 86 strokes to become a 2-time state qualifier. Green and Silcott made the all-district team with their performances on the day.
“We didn’t have our best day today, but we were able to get three of our players into the State Tournament,” Platte County head golf coach Trevor Short said. “We hoped that we could get a full team back to the championships, but we just couldn’t pull together enough shots to get it done.”
Lily Ricketts was the final Lady Pirate state qualifier – making it her third personal time at state – when she finished in a tie for 14th place with 97 strokes. Mac Borland and Brylie Kovar both came up just shy of advancing as Borland took 101 strokes and Kovar ended with 133 strokes.
“It was a tough break for our fourth and fifth players today, Borland missed the cut by one player and Kovar just had a rough day. Another senior that had her final round was Ava Villareal, who also is a very strong and motivated person and worked hard from day one and kept improving every year,” Short said.
In the Class 4 District 4 Tournament, Park Hill had three state qualifiers and Park Hill South had one. Lady Panther sophomore Makenna Casey clinched her second straight state berth with a tie in tenth place with 83 strokes.
For the Lady Trojans, Makenna Kincheloe was their top golfer as 82 strokes was good enough for a seventh-place tie. Reagan Bell claimed a spot at state with 89 strokes in 14th place.
The last Park Hill state qualifier was Kate Martorana who finished with 90 strokes, two ahead of the last individual qualifier. State golf will be held at Columbia Country Club on October 17th and 18th.