Clovis boys finish fourth at home invite

There was local golf aplenty over the last two days, with Clovis' boys and girls hosting the Colonial Invite and Portales taking part in the Piedra Vista Spring Invitational.

'Cats compete

Missing sophomore Ryan Rowley, who was sick, the Clovis boys played decent on Tuesday, with all four golfers shooting in the 80s.

Senior Kolt Bennett led the Wildcats with an 81. "Which is not real good for him but he had five out-of-bounds," Clovis boys coach Dale Fullerton said. "He ended up with a larger score than he should've had."

Bennett jumped off to a blazing start, shooting four-under after six holes. "He was hitting it super until there," Fullerton said. "He just had a few bad holes. And once you get to hitting it like that, it's hard to straighten it out. You start trying to guide it instead of hitting it."

Senior Chanse Bhakta was next for Clovis with an 84, followed by freshman Taylor Martin (85) and senior Christian Casaus (86), to give the Wildcats a 336 that landed them in fourth place.

"I was happy," Fullerton said. "They played well. It was wet conditions and they hit the ball well, did pretty well for the conditions."

Lovington won with a 307 team score. And Lovington's Tres Arreola was the individual winner with a 71.

Hobbs came in second at 321, and also had the second-place individual finisher, as Jake Raines fired a 75. Artesia finished third with a 324.

Placing behind Clovis were: Goddard (357), Clovis Christian (362) and Roswell (380).

Up next for the Wildcats is their final regular-season match, fittingly named the Last Chance Open, which will be held Thursday at New Mexico Military Institute and tee off at 9 a.m.

Good day for Wolverines

Lovington also won the girls tournament, firing a team 338 score and had the best individual golfer, Kathryn Campbell, who shot a 77.

Texico shot a team 367, good enough for second place. Kaytlyn Queener and Macey Tharp were the Lady Wolverines' top golfers, each shooting a 90.

Texico's Grace McDaniel was close behind with a 91, and Emily DelaRosa added a 96.

Goddard's Jadin Ware had the second-best individual score, an 81. Hobbs was third as a team, shooting a 374.

Clovis' Logan Clayton shot the third-best score, also an 81. The Lady Wildcats' numbers were rounded out by Destiny Hodges (92), Kate Lubera (100) and Jolei Adkins (106), for a team 389.

Warm-up at Piedra Vista

FARMINGTON - Portales took fourth in Monday's Piedra Vista Spring Invitational, recording a 351 score on Pinon Hills' par-72 course.

Talon Payne was Portales' top golfer, shooting an 82. Valen Low finished just behind Payne, firing an 83. Nate Cota shot an 88 and Josh Haman had a 98.

For the Rams, it was not just a competition but also a fact-finding mission. They will return to Pinon Hills later this month for the state 4A tournament.

"It was a good learning experience," Portales head coach Matt Hunton said. "Talon's the only one that played that course before. The other ones had never even seen it. That was the reason we made that trip for a one-day tournament, so they could see it and play it."

Host Piedra Vista captured first place, notching a 301. Los Alamos was second at 322, followed by St. Pius X in third (341).

Just a tick behind Portales was fifth-place Rio Rancho with a 352 score. Hope Christian wasn't too far back in sixth (355). The top 10 was rounded out by Albuquerque Academy (362), Belen (363), Farmington (425) and Aztec (432).

Piedra Vista's River Smalley was the individual medalist, shooting a one-over 73. Smalley prevailed by one stroke over his teammates Trey Diehl and Tyler Diehl, and Aidan Thomas from St. Pius X.