Wilson captures conference title at 3A West tournament

Lovell senior Kenley Wilson took the girls title, and her teammates in the boys division were strong, as well, as the Lovell High School golf team performed well at the 3A West Conference Tournament in Evanston last Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 8-9.

Wilson edged Powell senior Emery Hernandez to take the individual title. She led Hernandez by three strokes after round one, shooting 97 to the Powell senior’s 100, but Powell sophomore Ali Scott shot a 98 on Tuesday to trail Wilson by just one stroke. Both Wilson and Hernandez improved to 91 on the second day as Wilson maintained her three-stroke margin to win the tournament, 188-191. Scott shot a 100 on Wednesday to place third at 198.

“Kenley did exactly what I knew she could do. Being the medalist at the conference tournament is no small feat,” Lovell head coach Dane Robertson said. “She ended the first day in a new position that she hadn’t been in before with a one-shot overnight lead. It’s hard to be in the pole position and have to fight off the nerves while game planning how to stay there and fend off some other excellent golfers.

“I’ve seen others fall apart on day two and puke up their lead, but Kenley decided she was going to go out and shoot six strokes better to put a nail in it. She emphasized how her round was going to go on Hole 4 by throwing a dart from the fairway to about a foot (from the hole) for a tap-in birdie. She was in control of her game at that point and finished the tournament well. She was all smiles to reach her goal at the penultimate tournament of her fall golf career.”

Boys results

The Lovell boys turned in a solid tournament, placing third out of six scoring teams with a two-day score of 700, beating Rawlins by 29 strokes, Worland by 41 strokes and Lyman by 57. Lander won the tournament with a score of 622, followed by Powell at 666.

The Bulldogs shot 358 the first day and 342 the second.

Three Lovell golfers bunched together just out of the top 10. Seniors Rocco Rael and Kaeson Anderson tied for 14th at 172 strokes, just five strokes out of 10th place, and Rocky Mountain senior Kellan Jackson placed 16th with a score of 173.

Rael shot 91-81=172, Anderson 85-87=172. Jackson was hot on their heels at 89-84=173.

Rocky freshman Madden Cooley tied for 20th at 93-94=187, and Lovell sophomore Hudson Miller placed 27th at 112-90=202.

“Evanston was (mostly) kind to the Bulldogs,” Robertson said. “It was really nice to see success in both the boys and girls divisions. The boys played well enough to bring home a little bit of hardware by taking third place.

Kaeson, Kellan and Madden were pretty steady both days and shot both rounds without too much deviation in their scores. Rocco and Hudson were both higher than they wanted to be after the first round but then came back on the second day and shot so much better. Rocco poured in six birdies during that second round on his way to his career personal best in tournament play.”

The Lovell golfers hope to take their momentum from Conference to the Class 3A State Tournament in Torrington this Friday and Saturday.

“Torrington, like Evanston, is a course that none of our players have seen before,” Robertson noted. “The back nine is exceptionally tight with a slough from the North Platte lining many of the holes. We are going to need to be deliberate about where we place our shots off of the tee box in order to keep ourselves away from danger.

“We have a plan in place this week to simulate our rounds and practice our estimated approach shots into the green. We will utilize our practice round on Thursday to confirm how they should play each hole. Hopefully, we can continue the momentum we built in Uinta County and translate that into some good rounds in Goshen County.”

Tee times are scheduled for 10 a.m. each day at State.