Cats' Martin qualifies for 5A state golf

CARLSBAD — No one was going to beat Hobbs in Monday’s District 4-5A boys golf tournament at Riverside Country Club. The battle was for second place and the district’s other representative to the upcoming Class 5A state meet.

Roswell High rode an impressive 5-under-par 66 from Peyton Jones to second place at 332, 30 shots behind the heavily favored Eagles. Meantime, Carlsbad was third at 351 and Clovis High fourth at 370.

“He’s the best player in the district, by far, and has been for the past couple of years,” CHS boys coach Dale Fullerton said of Jones.

Junior Taylor Martin did qualify for the Wildcats, though, earning the No. 2 individual berth for teams not qualifying with a round of 41-44 — 85. He was ninth overall while Carlsbad’s Eli House notched the first non-team berth at 79, good for sixth place.

Clovis’ girls did get their team in, finishing second at 419 behind Hobbs (363). Carlsbad and Roswell High did not field full squads.

The 5A state tourney is slated for June 21 at Arroyo Del Oso G.C. in Albuquerque.

Not only did the Cats not get their team hot in a bid to contest for second place, but pretty much everybody shot a bit below his normal score, Fullerton said. Senior Ryan Rowley was second for CHS on Monday at 43-45 — 88, while senior C.J. Gutierrez followed at 51-43 — 94.

“I thought we would have to shoot around 325 or 326 to get in,” Fullerton said. “C.J. started off good — he eagled the first hole, but on the back nine he had some double and triple bogeys.

“Taylor started off with a triple bogey and then played pretty well the rest of the way.”

The heat was certainly a factor, reached triple digits toward the end of the round, Fullerton said. He added that Rowley was playing with a strained forearm, suffered in a water skiing accident over the weekend.

Sophomore Jolei Atkins paced the Lady Wildcats at 45-45 — 90, but no one else was able to break 100.

“We didn’t play very well today, but there was a lot of heat,” Lady Cats coach Joe Dvozenja said. “It’s a tough course for our girls to play because you have to be able to hit the ball high.”

Hobbs’ Brittlynn O’Dell was the medalist for the day with a 74. No one else in the field shot below 86.

Dvozenja said the break between now and the state meet should be good for his contingent.

“We’ll take a couple of days off and then get some fundamental work in over the next week and a half or so,” he said.