CAVE SPRINGS -- Welch's Fruit Snacks feuled Garrett Covington to a second straight conference championship.
The Shiloh Christian senior fired a 72 to take medalist honors and lead the Saints to the 4A-1 Conference Golf Tournament title at The Creeks Golf Course on Tuesday. The Saints shot a team score of 228, besting runner-up Berryville by 47 strokes.
4A-1 Conference Golf Tourney
at The Creeks Golf Course
Team results
Girls
Huntsville^276
Berryville^291
Gravette^359
Shiloh Christian^380
Boys
Shiloh Christian^228
Berryville^275
Pea Ridge^292
Prairie Grove^294
Huntsville^299
Gentry^299
Gravette^329
Lincoln^369
Individual results
Girls
McKayla Hussey, Berryville^80
Katelyn Swope, Pea Ridge^81
Hallie Fancher, Huntsville^84
Erin Easterling, Huntsville^93
Emma Coger, Huntsville^96
Hannah Phillips, Huntsville^101
Anna Caroline Stone, Berryville^104
Lynzy Sikes, Gentry^105
Keeley Bulza, Gravette^107
Hatley Rivett, Berryville^107
Alexa James, Shiloh Christian^111
Boys
Garrett Covington, Shiloh Christian^72
Ben Fowler, Shiloh Christian^77
Michael Connolly, Shiloh Christian^79
Ty Allen, Berryville^81
John Wilson, Huntsville^90
Harrison Cato, Pea Ridge^91
Spencer Loper, Shiloh Christian^92
Silas Myane, Prairie Grove^93
Mason Coleman, Gentry^94
Jesse Frye, Gravette^97
Matthew Roberts, Gentry^97
Chase Wade, Prairie Grove^97
After skipping breakfast, all Covington had to eat during his round were a few bags of "gummies," as he called them. Lunch was not served until after his round ended around 2 p.m. He also overcame wind gusts and a wet course in the morning to shoot four strokes better than he did last season, when he also won the conference tourney.
Covington, who helped the Saints win their second state championship in three seasons last fall, said a key to his round was on his last hole, No. 5, as he drained a 25-foot put for birdie to secure par for the round. From 80 yards out on No. 9, he stuck his approach shot about 2 feet from the hole. He also hit it to within 7 feet of the hole from about 175-yards out on No. 10.
"I guess it was just my day," Covington said. "To start off, I hit it really well off the tee box. I barely missed any fairways and to go along with that, I hit almost every green. Putting, everything just looked like it was going to go in.
"I just felt good, was relaxed after some quiet time this morning and everything just went well."
The top two teams in each of the boys and girls standings qualify for state, as do the top four individual finishers not on those two teams.
Shiloh Christian had the top three individual finishers (Ben Fowler finished second with a 77; Michael Connolly was third with a 79) and four in the top seven (Spencer Loper shot a 92), although only the top three factor into the team total. Despite taking the top three spots, Saints coach Ron Somers said his team's scores were a bit higher than expected.
"We think that just because the kids have only been in school for two months that they've only been practicing for two months," said Shiloh Christian coach Ron Somers. "What people need to understand is these kids played all summer long, and that's why they're able to come out here and play so well. They were here in the heat of the summer and were working hard everyday.
"We started working for this day the week we got back from spring break, and it paid off."
Huntsville won the girls title by placing three golfers in the top five finishers for a 276, which was 15 strokes better than runner-up Berryville. Berryville's McKayla Hussey took medalist honors with an 80 while Pea Ridge's Katelyn Swope was runner-up with an 81 to punch her ticket to state.
Sports on 09/20/2017