Eagles, Lady Cats make progress

CLOVIS - Hobbs has one of the top high school golf programs in the area, but Clovis Christian's boys and Clovis High girls tested themselves against the Eagles and Lady Eagles in Wednesday's CCS Eagle Invite at Colonial Park Golf Course.

Suffice it to say, both local teams made some progress.

Hobbs turned back CCS, winning the boys team title at 318 to 325 for the defending Class 1-3A state champion Eagles. Meantime, the Lady Wildcats shaved a few shots off their score and finished second at 359 to 337 for Hobbs.

"If our guys can get rid of that one blowup hole, we can be pretty good," McKay said. "But we're starting to play better. We just need to stay focused."

Clovis finished third on the boys side at 384. For the girls, Texico shot a season-best 415 for fourth place, with Portales coming in fifth at 443.

Sophomores Noah McKay, the coach's son, and Bodee Bratcher shot identical season-best rounds of 38-41 - 79 to pace the Eagles, with all five of their team members shooting under 90.

"That's the best round for him this year," coach McKay said of Bratcher. "Noah's been pretty consistent for us; we just have to get the others to be more consistent."

CHS junior Jolee Adkins was third medalist for the girls at 42-38 - 80, losing a scorecard tiebreaker for second. All five Lady Cats were able to break 100 on a course that generally plays a bit easier than some the teams play during the season.

"Jolei had 14 pars today," Lady Cats coach Joe Dvozenja said. "The others all had their best rounds of the year. We were really focusing on the putts today."

Sophomore Liz Elam led Texico's girls and was fourth overall at 84, her first time under 90. She said a nice weather day helped a bit.

"The weather was good, but it got windy at the end of the tournament," Elam said. "My putting today was way better on the back nine."

Lady Wolverines coach Kristen Gorman said her squad had its best day all around.

"We played much better," she said. "We chipped and putted better. We had personal bests for all four golfers."

Clovis' boys put three players under 100, led by 91s from junior Robert Albin and sophomore Jett Stone.

Senior Emma Gonzales was the top scorer for Portales' girls, shooting 48-53 - 101.

Texico was slated to host its invitational tourney on Friday at Farwell Country Club, also to include CCS and Portales. The Lady Wolverines are slated to compete in the Lovington Invitational on Tuesday while all area squads will take part in the Clovis Invite on Wednesday, set for a 9 a.m. start at Colonial.