Jason Louth shot a one-under-par 71, while his sister, Kelly, joined Miranda Orr with a pair of 82s as both the Memorial Vipers and Lady Vipers took control of the District 28-5A Golf Tournament on Tuesday. After first-round action at Cedar Creek Golf Course, Memorial was standing in first and second place in both divisions with comfortable leads. Jason Louth held a six-stroke edge in the boys individual race as the Vipers finished the day with a 325, 12 strokes ahead of the Memorial B-team. The B-team was in at 337. Along with the 71, the Vipers' Caleb Etheredge came in with an 80, followed by Wes Pennington's 81 and Skylar Byers' 93. Matt Hillyer, who was one-under-par on the eight hole, suffered a wrist injury and was unable to finish his round.Paced by Wes Hendrix, the Memorial B-team opened up an 18-stroke lead over third-place San Antonio Bracken-ridge, which fired a 355. Hendrix was in third place with a 79, just two strokes behind Brackenridge's John Ellizondo, who had a 77. Along with Hendrix for Memorial, Kyle Kramer fired an 82 and Jeremy Lee, Lance Hansen and Jonathan King were all in with 88s. Bradley Bongers, playing as a medalist, shot an 86 for the Vipers.
Kelly Louth and Miranda Orr sparked the Lady Vipers to a 93- stroke lead over the Memorial B-team, which is 89 strokes ahead of
Brackenridge. The Lady Vipers A-team recorded a 333, while the B-team shot a 426. Behind Louth and Orr, Jordan Byers turned in an 84, Kiersti Orr an 85 and Kate Meyer an 86.Leading the B-team was Madeline Clark with a 96, followed by Amy Kocian (102), Rebecca Dunbar (111), Kacie Fotiades (116) and Christina Ganem (125).Erin Conaway, playing as a medalist, shot a 125 for the Lady Vipers.
Day 2..With the tournament title all but sewn up after the first round, the Memorial Vipers and Lady Vipers appeared to be putting on their own golf show Wednesday at Willow Springs Golf Course.
Entering Wednesday's final round of the District 28-5A golf tournament with a 12-stroke advantage, the Vipers rode the shoulders of Jason Louth to a sweep of the top two places in the boys divisions. The Lady Vipers, meanwhile, had three players breeze home with rounds in the 70s to complete a sweep of the top two places in the girls division as well.All four teams now advance to the Region IV-5A Tournament in April.
After an opening round of 1under-par 71 at Cedar Creek on Tuesday, Louth calmly tamed Willow Spings on Wednesday with a four-under-par 68.Louth held a six-stroke lead going into the final round and breezed home with a 13-stroke cushion and medalist honors with a two day, 5 under par 139.Caleb Etheredge finished as third medalist with a two-day 152, and Wes Pennington tied for fourth with a 156, as the Vipers finished with a 616 score.The B-team finished second 33 strokes back at 337-312 649.The top four finishers for the Vipers all came in at 76 or less. Behind Louth's 68, Etheredge was at even-par 72, Pennington followed with a 75 and Skylar Byers shot 76.Bradely Bongers, playing in place of injured Matt Hillyer, finished with a final-round 84.
Wes Hendrix led the B Team with rounds of 79-77-156 tying Pennington for fourth place, while Kyle Kramer finished sixth with an 82-78-160. They were followed by Jeremy Lee with an 88-77-165, Lance Hansen with an 88-80-168 and Jonathan King an 88-85-173.
The Lady Vipers,entered the final round with: a 92-stroke advantage and were able to coast as all five members of the team of finished in the top six individually. Angela Olvarez of San Antonio, took top individual honors with 81-72-153. Miranda Orr finished second with an 82-77-159,and Kelley Louth was third at 82-78-160, Behind Orr and Louth, Kate Meyer 86-78-164 , Jordan Byer 84-81-165 and Kiersti Orr had a 85-83-168 to take 6th place.
The Memorial B-team took-second with a two-day 851, 135 strokes ahead of third place Brackenridge. Madeline Clark paced the B-team with a two-day 201 and was followed by Amy Kocian -209, Rebecca Dunbar -217, Kacie Fotiades-227, and Christina Ganem - 233.
Regional - Region IV-5A Golf Tournament
Tuesday:The Lady Vipers jumped out early at the Region IV-5A Golf Tournament,
while the Memorial Vipers managed to put themselves into contention to
advance to the state tournament.
Freshman Kelley Louth fired a 6-over-par 78 at the Willow Springs Golf
Course to pace the Lady Vipers to a 30-stroke lead going into today's
final round. Memorial finished with a team score 328, well ahead of San
Antonio Reagan (358) and Weslaco (373). Austin Westlake followed in
fourth at 389. Miranda Orr followed Louth with an 81, with Kate Meyer adding an 84, Jordan Byers an 85 and Kiersti Orr a 98.The Memorial B-team finished at 435 and were led by Amy Kocian with a 100. Following Kocian for MHS were Christina Ganem at 110,
Rebecca Dunbar at 112, Madeline Clark at 113 and Kacie Fotiades at
122.
The Vipers, meanwhile, found themselves tied for second place, only 16
strokes behind Westlake in the boys division at Cedar Creek Golf
Course..
Westlake fired a 305 while the Vipers and San Antonio Reagan were tied
at 321. McAllen Memorial was next at 329, with San Antonio Clark and
Corpus Christi Carroll both in at 332. Jason Louth was in second place three shots off the lead finishing with a 2-over-par 74 to lead the Vipers. Caleb Etheredge followed with a 78, while Wes Hendrix had an 84, Matt Hillyer and 85 and Wes Pennington an 87. The Meorial B-team was in at 349 with Skylar Byers leading the way with an 81. He was followed by Bradley Bongers with an 85, Lance Hensen a 91, Kyle Kramer a 92 and Jeremy Lee a 95.
Wed.:The Lady Vipers broke new ground at Willow Springs Golf Course
capturing the Region IV-5A girls golf title, while the Vipers came up
short trying to advance to the UIL state
tournament. Junior Jason Louth
earned his first trip to state by winning individual medalist honors.
Holding a 30-stroke lead going into Wednesday's final round, the Lady
Vipers increased their lead and breezed home with a 35-stroke win over
runner-up San Antonio Reagan. Freshman Kelley Louth came away with a third-place finish to lead the
Lady Vipers finishing with a 78-74-152; while junior Miranda Orr
followed with an 81-78-159. Junior Kate Meyer carded an 85-96-181,
while freshman Jordan Byers was in at 85-96-181 and senior Kiersti Orr
added a 98-90-188. The Memorial B-team finished with a two-day 435-439-874 and was
paced by Amy Koican with a 100-110-210. Following Kocian were
Madeline Clark with a 113-102-215, Rebecca Dunbar with a
112-111-223, Christina Ganem with a 110-116-226 and Kacie Fotiades
with a 122-127-249.
The Vipers, looking to become the first Victoria boys team to advance to
the state tournament since 1989, began the day tied for second with
Reagan and the two teams battled from the first tee to the final putt.
Despite Louth's strong two-day showing, Reagan fired four sub-80
rounds to hold off the Viper and gain a two-stroke edge and the
second-place spot. Louth fired consecutive rounds of 74-74 for a 4-over 148, to edge out
San Antonio Highlands' John Elizondo for the top individual finish.
Elizondo shots a pair of 75s to finish at 150.Following Louth, Caleb Etheredge tied for sixth with a 78-78-156, while
Wes Pennington fired an 87-78-165, Matt Hillyer an 85-85-170 and
Wes Hendrix an 84-87-171.
The Memorial B-team finished in 12th place with a 349-348-697. Skylar
Byers led the team with an 81-83-164, while Bradley Bongers fired an
85-91-176, Kyle Kramer a 92-87-179, Lance Hansen a 91-89-180 and
Jeremy Lee a 95-89-180.
STATE
Saturday May 12, 2001-The Lady Vipers wrote a little of their own Memorial history
Friday. Down three strokes after Thursday's first round, the Lady Vipers made
up more than enough ground to capture third place and the bronze medal,
the first medal in school history, at the Class 5A girls state golf
tournament at the Roy Kizer Golf Course.
After struggling Thursday, Memorial's top two players were back in
form Friday for final-round action and it was what the Lady Vipers
needed to vault them past Houston Clear Lake into third place. Firing a
final- round 324, the Lady Vipers finished the two-day event with a 651
and three strokes in front of Clear Lake.
"I'm pleased with the way the girls hung in there," said Lady Vipers
coach Mike Smith. "One of our goals was to medal and we were able to
accomplish that."
The Woodlands took advantage of a faltering McKinney to run away
with a 17-stroke win for the team title. The Woodlands turned in rounds
of 308-302 for a 610, while McKinney, starting the day three shots back,
finished with a final-round 322 and a 627.
Miranda Orr, after an opening-round 86 on Thursday, led Friday's
charge with a 7-over 78. Freshman Kelley Louth was on Orr's heels,
finishing with a 79, while Clear Lake finished with only one player in the
70s.
Starting on the back nine, Orr made the turn with a 6-over 42 before
putting her game together and finishing with a 1-over 36.
Kate Meyer, after leading the Lady Vipers with a 79 on Thursday, turned
in an 82 and Jordan Byers added an 85 for the Lady Vipers' 324. Kiersti
Orr had a final-round 92.
Clear Lake meanwhile had to record scores of 77, 82, 85 and 86 to finish
with a 330 and a two-day total 654.
San Antonio Churchill's Nicole Melton won the individual title as she
turned in rounds of 69-73--142, three strokes ahead of The Woodland's
Ashley Knoll. Knoll finished with a 73-72--145.
Memorial's Jason Louth, playing as an individual medalist, finished tied
for ninth in the boys division.
Setting 10 strokes off the lead Thursday, Jason Louth made a strong
final-day run with a 3-under-68 to finish in a three-way tie for ninth, just
six strokes off the winning pace in the boy's individual medalist race.
Austin Westlake's Tyler Duncan, after an opening round of 6-under 65,
grabbed individual honors with a 5-under 137 after a final round 72.
Duncan led the Chaparrals to the team title with a five-stroke victory over
Plano East. Westlake finished with a 564, while Plano West turned in a
569 team score. Duncanville beat Humble Kingwood in a playoff to take
third. Both teams finished at 578.
Louth hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation and finished with 30 putts on the
day. His bogey-free round include birdies at the par-4 6th and 11th and
the par-5 17th.
