Warriors take second at 3A East conference tournament

WORLAND — A rough outing in Douglas prevented the Worland Warriors from claiming their third-straight 3A East conference championship but are ready to bounce back and defend their 3A State championship this weekend in Lander.

“We didn’t play well, to be fair,” said WHS golf coach Ben Hofmann. “Give credit to Riverton. They put together two good rounds of golf. We got so far behind after the first day, and we had three guys not play particularly well, and that happens. Hopefully, we can get it out of our system, and we can bounce back at state.”

Much of the Warriors’ struggles came from just not being able to shake off a bad hole.

“For the boys, it came down to ball striking. We put ourselves in bad positions, and Douglas is a tough course. Then we just didn’t putt well. We didn’t knock down those six, eight-footers that our guys consistently make. Then it just snowballed from there, and we couldn’t get away from it. That will even happen to the best guys. You’ll watch the PGA guys, and they’ll have a blow-up hole, and they can’t shake it from there. It’s a mental grind, but I think we can get off to a better start and be more competitive this weekend,” said Hofman.

The Warriors finished second behind Riverton, shooting 348, 329-677. Riverton went 308, 318-626 during the two-day tournament.

Karsten Simmons led the Warriors, shooting 79, 74-153 for a second-place finish. Riverton’s Parker Paxton won the tournament with a score of 70, 67-137.

Landen Gilmore joined Simmons in the top 10, finishing 10 with an 89, 82-171. Jackson Dunham just missed the top 10 and earning All-Conference honors. Dunham finished 11th, shooting an 87, 85-172.

To make All-Conference, a golfer must finish in the top 10.

Sam Keller finished seventh for the Lady Warriors, shooting 104, 112-216 and picking up her first All-Conference honors.

“Starting with Sam Keller, I thought she just grinded every weekend and played really well. She competed, and I was really impressed with how well she played. Sometimes things went well for her, other times they weren’t, but she kept competing for six hours a day. That’s hard to do, and I’m just really proud of her.

“Karsten and Landen didn’t play their best golf, and I’m sure they’ll be the first to tell you that. Still, their not-so-good rounds are still good enough to have them in the top 10. That says a lot about how much time they put into the game over the years. I’m just really proud of them,” said Hofmann.

The 3A State meet gets underway in Lander on Friday and Saturday. Hofmann knows that the Warriors are ready to put the conference tournament behind them and play their best in the season’s final tournament.

“I really think they’re motivated and ready to go. They know they didn’t play particularly well and know they can play better. Hopefully, with that mindset, we can go out and give Riverton a better effort this week,” said Hofmann.