Warriors roll to second tournament win of the season

WORLAND - The Worland High School boys golf team picked up their second win of the fall season Friday in Buffalo. The Warriors shot 325, 322-647, to win the tournament by 63 strokes, and placed four of their five golfers in the top 10.

4A's Sheridan Broncs were the next closest with 710 and the next closest 3A team was the Douglas Bearcats with 723.

Freshman Karsten Simmons won his third-straight high school tournament posting a score of 74, 71-145. This was also Simmons' largest margin of victory of his early high school career, winning the tournament by 11 strokes.

"Karsten manages the course better than any player his age," said WHS golf coach Chad Rose. "He is also very patient. He takes the opportunities that are presented to him, and his frustration level stays pretty low. As an example, he made eagle to close out the tournament. He knew he needed it to shoot a good score, so he was a bit more aggressive. He is a very balanced player, and never tries to play more than one shot at a time."

Simmons was joined in the top 10 by teammates, JT Klinghagen tied for fifth (84, 79-163), Jose Galarza tied for eighth (84, 89-173) and Logan Foote tied for eighth (90, 83-173).

"We are taking a lot of confidence into this weekend. Though we were on different courses, we shot lower than Lander did at their tournament, and I always feel that Buffalo is one of the best courses in the state at defending itself. Very few players go very low there," said Rose.

For the Lady Warriors, Rachel Carver just missed out on cracking the top 10 finishing 13th with a 108, 106-214. Robyn Horath shot a season-best 110, 110-220 and Navy Martinez went 128, 132-260 for the tournament.

Building Horath's confidence has been a big key for Rose this season and in Buffalo, she took a giant step forward in believing in her talent.

"She is very close. I had a coach once tell me, whether you believe you can or you can't, you'll always be right. That is especially true for our girl golfers," said Rose.

Friday and Saturday Worland hosts the 3A East conference tournament at the Green Hills Golf Course. A championship for the Warriors seems like a certainty but in order to avoid getting ahead of themselves, Rose wants his golfers to focus on their games and not worry as much about the field.

"We are going to set score targets and try to shoot for those. Ultimately, we play against the course and not the field. We need to focus on that going into state. We can't control or influence what the other players will shoot, but we ultimately control our emotions through the six rounds," said Rose.

The Lady Warriors are aiming for a top-three finish on Friday, and individually, Carver is aiming for her third career All-Conference honor.

"It would be great to finish in the top three teams, and obviously the girls are shooting for All-Conference honors. Rachael has made the All-Conference twice before, so she would like to keep that streak going into state. Right now she is in the top 15 golfers in 3A, so we would like to move up a couple of spots," said Rose.

The 3A East tournament gets underway Friday at 9 a.m. and noon on Saturday.