Crowley fires solid 81 to lead Sandpoint golfers

POST FALLS — The Bulldog boys are loaded with great young golf talent, but an unheralded freshman stole the show on Friday at the Post Falls Invitational Golf Tournament at Prairie Falls Golf Course on Friday afternoon.

Nick Crowley fired a season-low 81 to lead the Bulldog boys to a sixth place finish among 10 teams. Dylan Dufenhorst (85) and Damien Fitzpatrick (87) also broke 90 for the Bulldog boys, who finished seven strokes better than the previous round but still trailed 4A rival Lakeland by 17 strokes.

With No. 1 Jack Reeves capable of going much lower, the Bulldogs hope to close the gap in the future and battle the Hawks for a district title.

“Our biggest highlight of the day was Nick Crowley. We didn’t know what he was capable of, and he finally put it all together,” said Bulldogs head coach Tom Tharp. “He’s going to keep going down. His next goal is to get in the 70s. He’s got a cool head on his shoulders, takes it one shot at a time.”

Nina McDonnell carded a 108 to lead the Bulldog girls, who finished eighth. Tharp called it a pretty good day for his girls, who struggled on the tight track.

“The course is a lot narrower with a lot of ups and downs,” said Tharp. “But they did better than last week. We’ve got our work cut out, but we seem to be heading in the right direction.”

Sandpoint is at Palouse Ridge on Thursday.

BOYS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Lewiston 299. 2, Post Falls 309. 3, Lake City 319. 4, Post Falls No. 2 321. 5, Lakeland 326. 6, Sandpoint 343. 7, Coeur d’Alene 346. 8, Post Falls No. 3 399. 9, St. Maries 400. 10, Moscow 420.

MEDALIST — Ben Trigsted, Lewiston, 71.

LAKELAND — Preston Roth 72, Tyrel Derrick 88, Dylan Knight 88, Andrew Knight 78, Shane Hylton 89, Kenny Zaken 102.

SANDPOINT — Jack Reeves 90, Dylan Dufenhorst 85, Damien Fitzpatrick 87, Nick Crowley 81, Tyler Connolly 114, Lake Wilks 94.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Coeur d’Alene 380. 2, Lakeland 398. 3, Post Falls 399. 4, Lewiston 417. 5, Lake City 421. 6, Moscow 424. 7, St. Maries 462. 8, Sandpoint 468.

MEDALIST — Emily Callahan 79.

LAKELAND — Haley Rotchford 102, Megan Cysewski 90, Sierra Tigney 87, McKenzie Roth 135, Hannah Gagnier 119, Rachel Raeger 138.

SANDPOINT — Nina McDonnell 108, Alexis Creighton 113, Caroline Hawkins 120, Hannah Hurst 127, Hannah Fingel 143.