By: J. Daniel Pearson
Although regionals were played on Monday, both the St. Cloud boys’ and girls’ golf teams will be in wait to see mode to find out if their 2024 seasons will continue at the state championship.
Both teams participated in the super-stacked Class 3A, Region 2 on Monday; where the Lady Bulldogs finished in a tie for fourth at Royal St. Cloud Golf Club; while the boys finished fifth at Stoneybrook West Golf Club.
Only the top two teams were guaranteed a spot in next week’s state championship.
Lake Nona tied Vero Beach for the girls Region 2 title with an impressive team score of 11-over 299. The Lions, which took the district championship at St. Cloud last week, won a three-hole playoff to take the championship; with Vero Beach advancing as runner-up. The Lady Bulldogs were 25 shots back at 325.
Jupiter won the boys’ regional with a blistering eight-under par 280; while Dwyer High (Palm Beach Gardens) also will be going to state’s as Regional Runner-up –also finishing with a two-under par 286. Viera (287) was third; while St. Cloud came in at 307.
Although neither team secured at automatic bid, both teams still have some hope of qualifying for the state championships slated for Mission Inn Resort, Nov. 19-20. A total of eight additional teams will be selected after the last regional is played on Nov. 6. Those will be the eight non-qualifying highest ranked teams based on regular season, district and regional play.
St. Cloud girls entered the post-season ranked 10th ; while the boys were ranked 12th.
“Right now it’s impossible to tell until all the regionals are completed and those results factored into the rankings,” Osceola County Athletics Director Ryan Adams said. “Based on the rankings going it, it’s a real possibility they will make it, but again it’s definitely a wait and see.”
Both tournaments saw some outstanding individual play.
In the girls’ tournament, five players shot subpar rounds, including overall medalist freshman Leah Graham – from Dwyer –who shot a five-under 67. Jupiter’s Zoe Shany was second at 68; while Vero Beach’s Darci Wagner and Lake Nona’s Sofia MacApagal tied for third with matching two-under 70s. Viera’s Hannah Hall rounded out the podium with a 71 for fifth place.
The Lady Bulldogs were led by junior captain Karolyna Adams, who shot a two-over 74. Adams had four birdies on the day but a costly triple bogey 7 on the 330-yard par four #8 most likely cost her a position on the podium. “I really thought I played well today, that triple sort of put a damper on the round though,” Adams said.
Other counting St. Cloud scores came from sophomore Maddie Burda (77), freshman Abigail Murphy (82) and junior Olivia Siegel (92); accounting for St. Cloud’s 325 team score over the 5507-yard par 72 course.
“This was a tough regional with a lot of great teams,” St. Cloud girls coach Thomas Hayes said. “Hopefully this won’t be our last match of the year because I believe this team deserves a chance to move on to states.”
History would be made if they do receive an at-large to the state championship as it would be the fourth consecutive trip for the Lady Bulldogs as they would become the first team (boys or girls) to qualify for the state tournament four years in a row.
In the boys’ tournament, it was lights out for the top golfers, as four players shot matching four-under 68s – including Dwyer’s William Cui, a freshman who won in a playoff. Jupiter’s Brayden Jenard, West Orange’s Shawn Coultoff, and Viera’s Atrth Sinha tied for second; while Boone’s Nicholas Pisarski (70) made the podium in fifth place.
St. Cloud was led by freshman Dominick Velazquez and junior Ethan Parish, who shot two-over 74s. Freshman Arnold Pouncy was at 78; while senior Espn Pool, playing out of the number one spot, had his roughest outing of the year with a nine-over 81. Pool had two birdies on the day but an uncharacteristic three double bogeys including on back-to-back holes on the front side.
“Tough day for Espn, but overall I thought we played pretty well today. It’s was a really tough region when you consider Viera shot under par as a high school team and didn’t even finish in the top two. We’ll have to wait for the final rankings to come out and hopefully we get one of the at-large team spots,” St. Cloud Coach Jeremy Velazquez said.
