Lovell golfers prep for Conference with solid play in Lander

The LHS golf team tuned up for the conference tournament Thursday and Friday by playing on a challenging course at the Terry Berg Invitational in Lander Thursday and Friday.

“All week the kids were loathing the thought of having to walk up and down Lander Golf Club’s infamous hill that separates the front and back nine. Think Five Springs Road while pushing a golf cart full of clubs. It’s always fun for me to crack jokes at all of the golfers’ expense while I pass them in my riding golf cart.”

As usual senior Kenley Wilson was the top finisher for Lovell as the lone varsity girl, shooting 94 the first day and 100 the second for a final score of 194 to place sixth out of 27 competitors, her fourth consecutive top-10 finish.

The Lovell boys placed fifth in the eight-team field, shooting 351 on the first day and 361 the second for a two-day score of 712.

“This week was more of the same for the varsity squad. They mostly played well with some stretches of rough holes. Lander has such a weird, quirky course, and if you don’t start the ball off the tee box on some of the holes on the correct lines, things can go downhill quickly.”

Senior Kaeson Anderson tied for 18th place out of 66 golfers with a consistent performance. Anderson shot 83 on Thursday and 84 Friday for a score of 167, 10 strokes out of a top-10 finish.

Rocky senior Kellan Jackson shot 85-84=169 to place 22nd, Lovell senior Rocco Rael 88-96=184 for 35th place.

Freshman Gage Bair finished 37th at 91-95=186, junior Kelvin Robertson 92-99=191 for 39th, sophomore Hudson Miller 96-97=193 to tie for 43rd and freshman Madden Cooley 95-105=200 to tie for 50th. Sophomore Mason Leithead scored 104-100=204 (54th), freshman Brock Butler 101-107=208 and junior Jaxon Hayes 108-100=208, tying for 56th.

“I was very happy with how some of our JV players played this week,” Robertson said. “Gage Bair, Mason Leithead and Kelvin Robertson each shot their personal bests by a mile. One of them mentioned how much they love Lander’s course, which is not a phrase I’ve ever heard from anybody before. They definitely played well enough to elicit such a feeling, though.”

Conference tourney

The team traveled to Evanston Monday for the Class 3A West Conference Tournament, which began Tuesday and continued on Wednesday. On Sunday, Robertson was looking forward to the challenge of the conference tournament, followed by the state tournament in Torrington September 18-19.

“With the regular season over, we now head into Conference and State in Evanston and Torrington, respectively,” Robertson noted. “These are a couple of courses the kids have never seen before, so we will utilize our practice rounds to become familiar with them.

“Kenley has a really good shot to be at the top of the leaderboard these next couple of weeks. She continues to play a good mental game each week. She’s so fun to coach, and I’m excited to see how she plays in Uinta County.”