By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The Highlands boys golf team qualified for the state tournament finals by placing second in a first-round qualifier on Monday at Heritage Hill Golf Course in Shepherdsville.
Oldham County won the first-round tournament with a 301 team total, followed by Highlands at 318 and South Oldham at 321. Under this year’s new playoff format, those three teams advance to the state tournament finals along with 15 individual qualifiers from the other five teams in the field.
Highlands golfers qualified for the boys state tournament for the third straight year.
The co-medalists were Ben Wulkopf of Louisville Trinity and Brady Smith of Christian Academy of Louisville with matching scores of 2-under 70.
The local golfers who placed among the top 10 were Tanner Lorms of Ryle (74) and Caleb Eaglin of Newport Central Catholic (75).
Joel Craft of Highlands tied for 11th place with a 76. The other top scorers for the Bluebirds were Hank Shick (78), Nate Surrey (80) and Ryan Toole (84).
This is the third consecutive year Highlands has qualified for the boys state golf tournament. The Bluebirds placed ninth in last year’s season finale.
Local golfers among the individual state qualifiers along with Lorms and Eaglin were Covington Catholic teammates Nathan Resing (76) and Mitchell Gastright (78). CovCath finished two strokes behind the third-place team that qualified for state.
The St. Henry team that won last week’s Region 7 championship placed fifth in the first-round tournament. St. Henry golfers Kevin Tobergte and Ben Carter both shot 79, but they lost in a three-way tiebreaker for the final individual state tournament berth.
The boys state golf tournament finals will be played Oct. 3-5 at Bowling Green Country Club. After a practice round on the first day, nine teams and 45 individual qualifiers will compete in the 36-hole event.
