Cats unable to get third leg for state golf

ROSWELL — Clovis High's golfers came up short of the third leg needed to qualify for Class 5A state golf. Meantime, the Portales Rams are still without a leg in Class 3A.

Both teams will have to win their respective district tournaments on Monday to send their teams to state, although the Wildcats have now qualified three individuals.

Clovis finished fifth in the eight-team Last Chance Open at the New Mexico Military Institute golf course on Friday, shooting a four-man score of 325, while Portales was eighth at 346.

Roswell Goddard took the team title at 311. No area girls teams competed in the event.

The Cats, though, did get a third individual leg for junior Frankie Trujillo, who shot 39-37 — 76 to finish in a tie for third in medalist play. He joins senior Matt Justus and junior Emilio Romero with three qualifying legs.

To get the team in, though, the Cats will have to win the three-team District 4-5A meet, which will be played on Monday at UNM South in Albuquerque. Both the Cats and Carlsbad will have to win to join Hobbs, one of only four 5A teams to qualify for state so far.

"Hobbs has been a little better than us all year," CHS coach Cal Fullerton said. "We've beaten Carlsbad (321 on Friday) every time except the two times we've played them at NMMI."

Justus and Romero shot 81s for the Cats. Goddard took the top two individual spots with Steven Willis (even-par 72) and Tom Snyder (74).

Portales, which returns to NMMI for District 3/1A-3A competition on Monday, was led by sophomore Ty Bergman's 40-40 — 80 on Monday. The Rams will either have to win the team title or have a player win individual honors on Monday to send anyone to the 1A-3A state meet, scheduled for May 13-14 at Socorro.