Pacers win Big 8 Conference, Plainsmen 2nd

Apr. 16—PONCA CITY, Okla. — The Pacers won't be coming home empty-handed from their trip to Lew Wentz Golf Course at the Big 8 Conference Tournament on Thursday.

With their second lowest round of the season, Enid finished first in their conference with a 402 team score — just one stroke above second-place Choctaw. Enid head coach David Lee and his team will return to Enid with a van full of trophies including two Pacers named all-conference: juniors Regan Masterson and Elisabeth Armstrong

"It was a good day for Enid golf," Lee said.

Masterson and Armstrong finished second and third respectively with the top five golfers being named all-conference. Masterson posted a 94 and Armstrong shot a 98 — her lowest total of the season — on the par-70 course in Ponca City.

Margo Miller (104), Baylee Wood (106) and Kara Runnels (110) also finished with solid rounds to help the Pacers seal the win.

After posting team totals of 441, 478 and 423 through their first three tournaments the team's averaged a team total of 399 in the three tournaments since.

"They've just been doing what they've been doing the last few weeks," Lee said, "They're just keeping the ball in play and not getting a lot of penalty strokes and everything's gotten better from the tee box to the approach shots, to the chipping and putting it's just been a cumulative of all those things."

The team's improvement comes during an important stretch for the Pacers as the season draws to an end. The team has three more tournaments starting on Wednesday when they host the pre regional tournament at Meadowlake Golf Course.

The next week will be the regional tournament held at the same venue which will determine whether they qualify for the state tournament on May 5-6 at Broken Arrow Golf & Athletic Club.

Still, Lee pointed out that sometimes playing on your home course can actually make playing well more difficult.

"Sometimes that puts some pressure on you because people think you should do well," Lee said.

The Plainsmen also finished high on the leaderboards in Ponca City on Thursday, shooting a 322 team score which secured second place.

Three Enid players finished tied for fifth place which would've awarded them all-conference honors but all three lost in a scorecard playoff. Enid's Max Fossett, Hayden Johnson and Dawson Branstetter each finished with a final score of 79 among others. The team finished 12 strokes behind first place Choctaw.

Lee said that if the team can repeat their team score in the regional tournament for 36 holes at Lake Hefner's North Course, they'll have a good shot at making it to the state tournament at Forest Ridge in Broken Arrow.

"If we can shoot a 322 ... and obviously we have to do that twice because we play 36 holes ... but if we shot 322 once or twice we'd be really close possibly to qualifying as a team or surely if you shoot that one, two or three individuals could get in if we don't make it as a team." Lee said.

Qualifying for state won't be easy though according to Lee, 6A golf is extremely competitive with certain powerhouse schools qualifying almost every year.

"It's just like any other spot, 6A football and basketball they're really, really good teams and it's no different in golf. You just take all four Edmond schools: Edmond Memorial, Edmond Santa Fe, Edmond North and Deer Creek those four are all perennial in the state tournament and everybody else is fighting for those two spots."

Dimitrios Farr added an 85 to round out Enid's top-four and Sam Blankenship shot a 95. The Plainsmen also brought an individual to the tournament, Taylor Kreie who put up a solid score of 87.

Lee said that the team hasn't nailed down it's top-five spots yet and plans to continue mixing up the top of his lineup until regionals.

The Plainsmen will get next week off before playing two tournaments the following weekend. The first will be at Stillwater Country Club on April 26 and then the team will play Lake Hefner for a preview of the regional tournament on May 3.

Masri is sports editor for the Enid News & Eagle.

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